


The Curious Adventures of Meredith

by Tianasina



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Humor, Ineffable Husbands (Good Omens), Ineffable Idiots (Good Omens), Love, M/M, Observing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-05-16 11:29:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 47,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19317283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tianasina/pseuds/Tianasina
Summary: A series of connecting one-shots/chapters following Meredith, a demon who has been tasked with observing Crowley and Aziraphale in an attempt to find out how the pair were able to survive the holy water and hellfire. She's not the only one though.





	1. Food

A/N: This is set some time after the show(I have read the book, but the show’s fresher in my brain). I absolutely loved the show and when this came to my mind, I needed to write it down, I hope you like it!

 

The Curious Adventures of Meredith

 

 

Meredith felt her tail twitch while she stood before Duke Hastur and Lord Beelzebub. She was _not_ nervous, to be nervous would be admitting that she was scared, and when one is a demon, they don’t get _scared,_ or willingly admit it. Her black cat ears twitched as she listened to her instructions. Surely they weren’t serious, well perhaps they were, but surely they wouldn’t expect _her_ to do this mission. _She_ who had never been to earth, she was just a low class demon with no knowledge or experience in anything other than torturing souls.

“Do you understand?” Hastur snapped, his arms were crossed and he looked as displeased as he usually would.

Meredith’s tail jolted as she was addressed. “Well, yes sir. I-” she stammered.

Beelzebub tapped their foot against the ground impatiently.

“Y-yes.” she finished, trying to sound as confident as possible.

Hastur grinned. “Good.”

 

x Food x

 

That was how Meredith found herself standing behind a tree at St. James’ park, waiting for the sight of an Angel and a Demon. She crossed her arms and sighed, she had been given the right _honourable task_ of following the two in what Hastur had called reconnaissance. She had the job to observe the two, to try and find out just why and how they pair were immune to holy water and hell fire. Just what magics had the two invoked to make it so?

She scoffed, just how was she to know? How was she to find out? She looked down at the tattoo’s marking her arms, their patterns similar to panther spots, the only indication of her demonic heritage. Her nose twitched as the air close by changed, a holiness caught wind. She bit back a hiss and glanced towards the park benches, her eyes widened as the Angel and Demon in question walked together and sat together on one of the benches.

She raised a brow at the sight of them. They didn’t _look_ dangerous. Especially the Angel who looked like some kind of pansy. _They_ were the ones who had put the higher ups in a mood. _‘It takes all kinds, I suppose.’_ she thought with a shrug.

Movement caught her attention and she watched as the Angel pulled something out of his wooden basket. She inched closer, perhaps this would give her some clue as to their power? She watched him pull out some form of… triangle? He then proceeded to pass the triangle to the Demon Crowley, who then started to consume it, the Angel took out his own triangle and joined him. Was that food? Wasn’t that what humans ate?

A movement caught her attention and she looked over to see a tall lanky man in white hiding behind another tree, taking notes in a notepad- apparently Heaven had planned something similar to her side. She glared at the Angel before turning her attention to the pair, she blanched, they were… throwing _food_ at the ducks? No, she corrected herself after a few moments, they were _feeding_ the ducks. She continued to watch them while they sat together and fed the ducks, it seemed innocent enough, but there had to be something, _anything_ about the situation that would have caused their sudden _god-like_ powers.

When the two eventually left the park, Meredith moved from her hiding spot and hesitantly stepped towards the water. She watched the ducks while they pecked at the last scraps of food that had been left by the pair. She looked around the park and noticed the food stand. Curiously she stepped to the vendor and with a quick demonic ‘miracle’ she found herself holding a bag of baked treats. While she moved to head back to the ducks she noticed her Angelic counterpart walk up to the stand with some money. With a grin and a click of her fingers, the angel would find some crawling guests in his food.

She stepped to the pond and opened her bag, insider were some colourful circles. She pulled one out and hesitated. Dare she try it? What if something happened to her? But then, another voice in her mind added, what if it did give her powers. She closed her eyes, only one way to find out. She took a bite. Her eyes shot open, this circle with a hole in the centre, whatever it was, was _absolutely_ delicious. Her mouth felt true bliss while the object sat against her tongue. She suddenly felt the urge to move her teeth, so she did and by S _atan,_ her knees went weak. She placed a hand against the bench to steady herself.

She took another bite and let out a moan, this was phenomenal. She could believe it if this was what caused them to gain their powers. This, human food, was divine. However, while she ate it, she failed to notice any differences with how she felt. She certainly didn’t _feel_ more powerful, and she certainly did not feel as though she were powerful enough to take on holy water. She was not sure why, but she knew that this had not improved her condition. It had certainly improved the condition of her tongue though, _yum_.

The sound of an, almost girlish, shriek brought her out of her indulgence and she looked over to the Angel dropping his bag of food and a dozen cockroaches fled from the paper bag. She grinned a grin that reached her eyes and let out a chuckle that was filled with her amusement, and, a pureness that had not been there before and she did not notice.

The Angel looked over at her, his dark eyes narrowing from behind his rectangle spectacles. His long fingers pushed his inky hair out of his face while he let out a sound of annoyance. With a cross of his arms he said. “I should have known that it were the work of a _demon_.” he said the word as though it had a bad taste, and maybe it did? “Begone, back to the void!” he shooed at her.

With a cackle, she turned to leave, but not without _encouraging_ one of the ducks to chase after the angel. His shrill cry causing her to laugh more.

 

X

 

Aziraphale smiled while he and Crowley walked to through St. James’ park together. In his hand was a wicker basket, the two of them were going to have a spot of lunch and feed the ducks. It was such a beautiful day for it and Aziraphale was glad that Crowley had wanted to come with him. In fact, since the apocalypse-that-almost-was, Crowley and he had been spending lots more time together, such as having lunch _among other things_.

When they reached their destination, Aziraphale gestured for Crowley to sit before he took the spot beside him. They sat their for some time, their shoulders _just_ touching, before his demonic partner broke the silence.

“We’ve got a couple of stalkers, Angel.”

Aziraphale’s lips twitched. “I know, the Angel followed me from the bookshop,” he glanced at Crowely through the corner of his eyes. “did the Demon follow you here?”

“Nope,” Crowley slouched back into the chair and lung an arm around the back of the chair, and pressed it lightly against Aziraphale’s back. “I suspect that she’s been waiting here for us- seems like something Hastur would do after the Holy water incident in my flat.”

Aziraphale hummed and reached for the basket at his side. Clipping it open he took out a chicken salad sandwich, he smiled widely, he had been looking forwards to the sandwich since he had made them earlier. He offered a triangle to Crowley who accepted it and started to eat it. He watched Crowley with warm eyes for a few moments before he reached for his own half. His eyes closed as he enjoyed the food, it was crisp, fresh and absolutely _amazing._ The were silent for some time, the only sounds being that of the surrounding humans and the ducks who were waiting very patiently, or as patiently as they were able to, for their meal.

“That was quite good Aziraphale,” Crowley commented, tilting his head to look over at his friend while his fingers brushed lightly against his shoulder. “You should make lunch more often, perhaps when we have a picnic?”

Aziraphale sent him a blinding smile and tapped his fingers in his lap. “I’d like that.” their eyes locked for some time before Aziraphale cleared his throat and reached into the basket. “I think our little friends have waited long enough, no dear?” he pulled out some bread and passed some to Crowley.

“I suppose Angel.” he chuckled and together they went about throwing the ducks their treasures. He chuckled while the birds went crazy and attacked the food. They continued to watch and feed the ducks for some time before they eventually ran out of food. “Well, shall I take you back to the bookshop.” Crowley prompted.

“I would like that.” came the reply with a warm smile.

“Come on Angel.” Crowley rose to stand and held an arm out to his companion. Aziraphale pulled himself up and took the offered arm.

“What shall we do about our, ‘Friends’?” Aziraphale’s voice was low, he send an inconspicuous look to the Demon and Angel watching them.

Crowley shrugged. “Let’s watch them, see what happens.”

“B-but what if they try to _hurt_ you.” Aziraphale spluttered.

“I could say the same about you.” Came the casual reply. “besides Angel, I don’t think they’re here to hurt us- Hastur wouldn’t send a low class Demon- he’d rather do it himself. Nah, this is recon work.” he reassured, giving the Angel’s arm a squeeze.

“I hope that you are right.” Aziraphale replied through thin lips. They were walking further away from the pair and he noticed that they had yet to follow after them.

“Well,” Crowley began, his eyebrows raising above his sunglasses. “I could stay with you tonight, just to _keep you safe?_ ”

“ _Oh, Crowley._ ”

 


	2. Ducks

x Ducks x

 

Meredith smiled while she munched on a doughnut. She had been staying on earth for a week now and while she continued with her mission, she had also been taking time to learn the names of all of the delicious foods she had been trying. So far her favourites had been the doughnuts and a green thing whose name eluded her at the current moment. She pulled herself up from her seat and looked around St. James’ park. She had been listening in at Crowley’s flat and had overheard the demon making plans to meet with the Angel for a picnic today, so she had decided to head there first, scope the place out, set up a base and so on.

Her senses picked up something, a holy something. She turned and saw the Angel from the other day walking up to the pond with some bread. She felt the urge to mess with him, but instead chose to observe him. He was tall, taller than any Angel she had ever seen before- not that she had much experience with Angels, Aziraphale may have been _short_ by Angel standards for all she knew. His skin seemed to reflect as much as it absorbed the sun, which was probably something to do with his holy presence.

“Avert your eyes from me foul beast.” The Angel snapped. He turned to her with a scowl, his dark eyes piercing.

She rolled her eyes. “Oh shut it.” she crossed her arms, her panther spots shimmering in the sun. “I’ve no interest in you  or whatever it is that you’re doing.” she eyed the loaf of bread in his hands and the ducks who were watching him expectantly. “Giving the ducks a spot of love?”

“That is none of _your_ business.” he snapped, his cheeks tinted red, but she was unable to tell if he was embarrassed as in that moment she heard the sound of laughter. She turned and saw Crowley in the distance, he was laughing loudly about something. 

“Shit.” she hissed and looked for somewhere to hide, with a little bit of magic she found herself sitting in a tree, the branches obscuring others from seeing her, but she could see quite well.

“Get out of _my_ tree.” a voice from beside her hissed.

S he glared at the figure in white beside her. Really, who wore white jeans, white shoes and a white button up top? He looked like one of those pillars of salt from Sodom. “This is  _my_ tree salty.” 

He blanched at the nick name. “S-Salt, what is that supposed to-” he cut himself off as their targets drew closer.  He sent her a scathing glare, which she returned before pulling his notepad and pencil from his shirts pocket and readied himself.

Meredith rolled her eyes but she also took point. She watched as Crowley and his Angel stood by the pond, they were looking around as if trying to come to a decision. “ You smell.” she whispered to the Angel, she grinned when his hand clenched around his pencil, she could feel his teeth grinding at her presence. 

Her eyes widened and she went still as Crowley gestured to the tree,  _her tree_ , the tree that she was currently hiding in. She tensed, they surely wouldn’t know that she was there, unless they could sense the Angel beside her. She glanced at him and found him in a similar position to her.  _At least she wasn’t the only one terrified of being caught._

She felt herself hold a breath. She watched as the two walked to the tree, they knew,  _they knew,_ they knew she was there and she was in trouble- her eyes widened as Crowley took a blanket that had been tucked under one of the Angels arms and spread it out on the grass under the tree. She started breathing again, they were sitting on the blanket, she hadn’t been caught. She noticed that the Angel beside her had relaxed.

S he watched as Aziraphale set a wicker basket on the blanket between the two of them and clicked the lid open. He took out two wine glasses and a bottle of wine and went about pouring the wine. She watched the red liquid mournfully, she wished that she had some wine.

The Angel jotted something in his notepad and she rolled her eyes at his fastidious behaviour.  She watched the pair clink their glasses together; why would they do that? Perhaps that was some strange human custom? Or perhaps they were performing a ritual to increase their powers? She made a mental note to look into it.

The two drank their wine before Aziraphale reached back into the basket and proceeded to take out some bowls of food. She recognised some, mainly the grapes, pears and some chocolate cake, there was some more of those triangle things and a yellow circle with a knife sticking out of it.  She doubted that this had anything to do with their powers and was instead the two of them meeting to eat their food. She held back a sigh, this was going to be boring. She glanced at the Angel beside her who was taking notes, she rolled her eyes. She leaned over to take a look and he, catching her movement, clutched the pad to his chest and sent her a suspicious look. She sat back on her branch and glared down at the two having their picnic; Satan it was  _boring_ .

“S-So, I received a letter from Adam Young.” she heard Aziraphale say, her eyes widened at the sound of the anti-Christ's name and she put her focus back into paying attention to their conversation. 

“Oh yeah?” Crowley replied. “How is the kid?” Crowley used the knife to cut a piece of the yellow circle before holding it up to the Angel’s lips. Aziraphale opened his mouth to receive the morsel and seemed to moan in delight. 

Meredith groaned. Did she  _really_ need to be watching this?

“D-Did you hear something Dear?” 

_Shit._ She bit her lip and was careful to not make any other sounds. She could  _feel_ the Angel beside her scowling at her. She understood why, she had probably just exposed the both of them- at least she wouldn’t need to report her failure to Hastur, Crowley would probably use holy water on her and end it all.

“Eh?” Crowley tilted his head as though listening. “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about it, probably one of them ducks, getting hungry.” he gestured in the vague direction of the pond. 

“They probably are.” came the Angel’s reply. “Adam is well,” he replied to the earlier question. “He and the dog are happy and he is still close with his friends. He… he asked about you and if, if we would like to visit him sometime.”

“Oh yeah, we could do that.” Crowley leaned over, his face was so close to the Angel’s that Meredith could not tell if they were kissing or whispering things to each other. She had good hearing, so the fact that she could not hear them, worried her a little bit. 

Aziraphale turned to Crowley and Meredith wished that she was in a better vantage point so that she could see what was happening, as it were, she did not want to move lest she draw attention to herself. “How is the cheese?” she watched Crowley pull away from the Angel and cut at the yellow circle. She watched him feed the Angel the piece. 

Aziraphale smiled and ate the piece. “It is good,” he looked to Crowley with a smile. “It is nice that we are able to do this- we should picnic more often Dear.” 

She watched as Crowley nodded and made a sound of agreement before  he crawled closer to the Angel and situated his head in his lap while he stretched himself out on the  rug. Meredith’s eyes widened,  _well_ , she supposed, it seemed as though Hastur and the other demons were correct about the pairs  _relationship_ .  She watched the Angel reach for some grapes with one hand while he threaded his other hands fingers through Crowley’s hair. Aziraphale seemed to say something, but she was unable to hear, but it seemed to cause some excitement from Crowley.

“Would you shut up about that!” while the words seemed nasty, Meredith could hear the fondness in his voice. It caused her to frown, Angel’s and Demon’s should not be interacting together the way these two were- it was just _wrong_. The pair stayed like that for some time, Crowley napping while Aziraphale nibbled on some fruit before moving on to reading a book. They looked so sickeningly sweet and at peace with each other, Meredith wanted to be ill. However, she also felt curiosity prickle at the back of her mind. She wanted to know how the pair had adopted such comfort with each other, such an obvious _care_ , for each other, what series of events could culminate to such a union between the pair.

The Angel beside her scribbled furiously beside her. She watched him for a little while, whatever he was writing, it must have been detailed and important. She didn’t think that he had stopped writing since the two had sat in the tree- she knew it was an Angel trait, but one would think that you’d rather view and mentally record everything than take notes. She leaned over and took a sneaky glance at his notepad and blanched- he was drawing the park! She wanted to laugh, it was just too funny! 

As if feeling her eyes on him, he looked up and scowled at her. He hastily flipped his book shut and inched away from her. His dark eyes threatening her, her green ones glittered back at him cheekily.  He placed his notepad back in his pocket and turned his attention back to the two on the rug. With a smile smile she copied his actions. It was almost an hour later when Aziraphale and Crowley packed away their picnic.

“We have some leftover bread, shall we share with our friends My Dear?” 

“Why not? They’ve been watching us for the last two hours.”

M eredith froze, something in her clenched as a thought took her. That thought being that they were talking about herself and the Angel beside her, but they couldn’t know that they were there, could they? As it turned out, she did not need to worry, the ‘friends’ that they had been talking about, happened to be the ducks and swans who were swimming in the pond. While she watched them, a thought struck her, it was ridiculous but Hastur would have her head if she did not even  _test_ the theory. 

So once the pair had left the park, she found herself jumping from the tree with haste, considering what she had been sitting beside for the last two hours, and walking to the vendor. She purchased a muffin, with some ‘real’ money, and headed to the pond. She eyed the ducks who eyed her back. She felt stupid, this was completely ridiculous, they were  _ducks_ , they weren’t special except for the fact that they apparently tasted amazing. 

“Oh Ducks,” she felt stupid while saying. “Please grant me power.” she broke up the muffin and threw it to the birds who flocked for it ravenously. She waited for some time but did not feel any different, she wanted to sigh, of course it didn’t work, she knew that it wouldn’t work but had still done it. 

“They’re just ducks you know.” she looked over to see the dark haired Angel standing beside her.

“Oh shut it.”

 

X

 

“Would you look at that,” Crowley gestured towards the St. James’ pond. “There’s our stalkers.” he glanced at Aziraphale through the corner of his eyes.

Aziraphale returned the look with a crooked smile. “They appear to be  _fraternising_ with each other.”

Crowley let out an unnecessarily loud laugh, which turned into a light chuckle while he watched the two scramble to hide. While they walked to the pond he wondered if they had noticed that they had both picked the same tree to hide. He glanced at the Angel at his side and found him eyeing the tree thoughtfully. He grinned.

“Shall we… have our picnic under that tree,” he pointed to the tree in question. “It’s such a big tree, very shady and… treeish.”

Aziraphale raised a brow and tore his eyes from the tree to look at Crowley. “What are you playing at, Crowley?” he murmured.

Crowley grinned. “I just think that it would be a nice place for us to have our picnic.” and with that he headed towards the tree. Aziraphale shook his head with a fond smile and followed after him. When they reached the tree, Crowley took the blanket  from Aziraphale and laid it out on the grass. The two settled down and Aziraphale got them each a glass of wine. When his glass was passed to him he smiled as a thanks. 

“Cheers Angel.” 

“Cheers Dear.” their glasses clinked together and they each took a drink. 

Crowley drank his drink while he watched Aziraphale finish his and proceed to take their lunch from the basket. Crowley liked watching how  _careful_ the Angel was with his handling of the food. It was similar to watching Aziraphale tend to his books, fingers cradling the treasures while he placed them gently on the mat. He watched as Aziraphale eyed the food once it was laid out, the Angel looked as though he was going to drool, it was a word that was definitely  _not_ the word adorable.

“Some grapes,” Aziraphale gestured to the bowl.

Crowley lips lifted to a side smile. “Sure.” he opened his mouth and stuck his tongue out. He inwardly grinned when the Angel’s eyes widened and his cheeks reddened. The Angel however, did  _not_ protest, and instead lifted a grape and placed it gently onto the offered tongue. Crowley curled his tongue to take the offered fruit, but no without sliding his tongue against the fingers holding the grape.

Aziraphale’s breath hitched and he held his hand while Crowley tongued the appendages. He only took his hand back when Crowley pulled back to eat the fruit.  He coughed lightly and placed his hands in his lap.  “ S-So,  I received a letter from Adam Young.” 

“Oh yeah?” Crowley replied. “How is the kid?” he picked up and knife and proceeded to slice a piece of cheese off the small wheel. He took the piece in his fingers and held it to the Angel’s lips. His eyes darkened as Aziraphale’s mouth opened to take the piece of cheese. He watched intensely while the cheese was consumed and he had to resist the urge to jump him on the spot when the Angel moaned. He resisted the urge to laugh when he heard the groan from the tree- well if they were going to stalk them, they deserved this.

“D-Did you hear something Dear?” Aziraphale sent him a pointed look. 

“Eh?” Crowley tilted his head and pretended that he didn’t know what was happening in the tree above them. “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about it, probably one of them ducks, getting hungry.” he gestured in the vague direction of the pond. Behind his glasses, he winked at the Angel.

“They probably are.” Aziraphale replied thinly. He clearly was not enjoying the prank. “Adam is well,” he replied to the earlier question. “He and the dog are happy and he is still close with his friends. He… he asked about you and if, if we would like to visit him sometime.”

“Oh yeah, we could do that.” Crowley leaned over and placed his lips close to Aziraphale’s ear. “We’ll go sometime next week if you like.” he made his voice quiet, so quiet that the creatures in the tree could not hear him, but his Angel could.

Aziraphale turned  and their noses brushed. “What are we going to do about  _our_ _ problem _ .” he glanced upwards briefly. 

“We’ll have some fun with it, see where it goes, we’ll be careful Angel.” he brushed his lips against the Angel’s briefly. He grinned as he felt a tremor run through Aziraphale.

Aziraphale let out a sigh, of pleasure or frustration, Crowley did not know. Possibly both.

“How is the cheese?” Crowley asked cheerfully as he pulled back and went about cutting another piece off the wheel. He held the piece against Aziraphale’s lips.

Aziraphale smiled and  accepted the piece. “It is good,” he looked to Crowley with a smile. “It is nice that we are able to do this- we should picnic more often Dear.” 

Crowley nodded with a hum of agreement before letting out a small yawn. He pulled himself onto his knees and crawled over to Aziraphale and placed his head in the other’s lap. He made himself comfortable and stretched out on the rug. He liked this position, he wondered if Aziraphale would let him sleep here for a long time, like say, a century. He almost purred when Aziraphale’s fingers threaded themselves through his hair. He could ear the Angel eating and wondered how long it would take him to pull out a book to read.

“You look so a peace right now, My Dear.” he heard Aziraphale say softly, a thumb brushed against his temple. “When you look like this, it shows just how _nice_ you are.”

“Would you shut up about that!” Crowley grumbled exasperated. He _really_ wished that he would stop calling him _nice_. It just wasn’t something that he wanted to hear. He snuggled further into the offered lap and appeared to be napping while Aziraphale read his book. To an onlooker that is all it looked like, and while it was, there was more happening. The two, under their guise, were observing their ‘stalkers’ who were sat in the tree.

“They are diligent.” Aziraphale murmured quietly thirty minutes later.

“The demon’s bored, enjoy your book.” Crowley replied just as quiet.

“I do wish that they would leave us alone.” 

“So do I, Angel, So do I.”

“...Perhaps we _should_ move to Alpha Centauri.”

“...so _now_ you agree with me.”

It was almost an hour later when  Crowley felt Aziraphale gently rubbing his cheek to wake him. He blinked rapidly, he couldn’t even remember dozing off. He pulled himself up to a seated position and stretched. At the sound of movement he turned to see Aziraphale begin to pack away the picnic. He wordlessly moved to help the Angel. When they were done he held the blanket under his arm while he watched Aziraphale count the food.

“We have some leftover bread, shall we share with our friends My Dear?”

“Why not? They’ve been watching us for the last two hours.”

W ith that said they walked to the pond and went about feeding the ducks some of the bread leftover from the sandwiches. Crowley grinned, there was something about the way the birds went crazy for the food that always made him chuckle, they were just so crazy, so chaotic in their fight for the food.

“They’re taking notes on us.” Aziraphale said quietly.

“Let’s go back to the shop, we’ve sufficiently bored them, we have the afternoon to _ourselves._ ”

“ _Crowley!_ ”

With a chuckle Crowley linked their arms and lead him back to the Bentley. 

 


	3. Dancing

X Dancing X

 

Meredith sighed and leaned her face in her palm while her elbow rested against the table she was sitting in at a coffee shop. She was bored, she was over her mission. She had been on earth for three weeks now and she had enough! Not of earth, mind you, but of her job. She looked through the window beside her and over to the book shop across the street. Her dark pupils shrank as her vision stretched and she saw inside the shop, what she was able to see was Aziraphale standing at a bookshelf reading through a tome, while Crowley leaned back in his chair laughing at something.

She sighed again before raising her hand for the waitress. She wanted another coffee- she was glad that her side had invented it, it made her feel better about enjoying it so much. While she waited for her third coffee, she looked over to the booth at the other end of the cafe, the Angel was sitting there, he had been sitting there for the last three hours. This was routine now, they would each come to the cafe, sit in their respective spot, and ignore each other until the Aziraphale and Crowley left the shop to go wherever it was they wanted to go.

“You could go talk to him?” a voice _almost_ caused her to jump. She looked over to see the waitress standing beside her with her coffee. 

“Sorry?” she said with a raised brow while she accepted the hot drink. She smiled as her hands warmed at the touch of the drink. She missed the warmth of hell, London was just too _cold_. It was a lot more pleasant to live here than in hell though, even if it wasn’t as warm.

T he waitress gestured her head in the direction of the Angel who was drinking his own cup of coffee. “You two, every day, you sit in these spots and pretend not to watch each other but you both always leave not long after the other does-” she crossed her arms with a wryly grin. “Now the two of you are either doing something shady or are both really shy,” she gestured to the Angel with a nudge of her shoulder. “you should go talk to him, it’s sweet really, but also really sad.” and with that said she left the demon to mull in her own thoughts.

Meredith blinked in bafflement. She could not believe what had just happened.  _Had_ that just happened? She looked over at the Angel and felt herself chuckling, how would  _he_ feel if he discovered that the human shop workers apparently thought that they had a thing for one another. She glanced him up and down, he wasn’t  _that_ unfortunate looking. She stuck her tongue out in disgust as she realised what she had just thought. With grin she pulled herself up from the booth and lazily strutted to  the other booth.

“What do you want?” The Angel did not look up from his note pad while he sketched what appeared to be the exterior of the bookshop.

Meredith slid into the booth and grinned as he slid away from her, his frown growing. “Apparently we  _like_ each other.” she used her sing song voice and tapped her fingers against the table excitedly. Her grin widened when she saw him visibly shudder at her words. 

“I beg your pardon?” he asked thinly. His dark eyes looked up at her from behind his spectacles and his fingers tightened around his pencil.

S he glanced over at the waitress who was grinning at them. With a click of her fingers the waitress found herself lose her balance and fall to the side. The Angel’s glare darkened but he did not comment. “That waitress,” Meredith began, her eyes turning back to the Angel before her. “told me, apparently we  _‘watch’_ each other longingly all the time that we are here.” 

She watched with fascination as he lips curled downwards and he let out a sound of what could only be construed as disgust from the back of his throat. “ If I were to watch you, it would only be to imagine how to kill you.” 

His words caused her to throw her head back in loud laughter. “Oh _come on_ ,” her brow raised and she shot him a side grin. “you must have a little twinge of like for little ‘ol me,” she batted her eyes. “otherwise, you wouldn’t come here- you’d find another spot to drink your coffee, you know we invented that don’t you?” she leaned her arms on the table and inched forwards, her grin turned toothy.

His lips thinned and his fingers tightened around the handle of his mug. “The same could be said about _you_.” he shot back.

She leaned back in the booth, her arms resting on the back of the seat. “Maybe this just happens to be the best place to watch our… _charges._ ”

“They’re leaving.” the Angel pulled himself up to stand and slid out of the booth. “Shall we?” he inclined his head.

Meredith felt her lips twitch upwards. “ _We_ shall.”

 

X

 

“They’re watching us again Angel.” He heard Crowley drawl from the other side of the shop.

“They watch us every day Dear.” Aziraphale didn’t look up from his book. He turned a page and reached for his cocoa and took a sip. He really wished that Crowley hadn’t detested Oscar Wilde the way he had, he really would enjoy this book. He put his drink down and continued to drink.

“Urgh!” Crowley made a dramatic movement that took his entire body, complete with arm flailing and foot stomping. He stormed towards the sofa and plopped beside the book reading Aziraphale. He looked at the book his companion was reading and pulled a face. “Still reading his stuff? man’s been dead for _years._ ”

Aziraphale resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Is this what we’re going to talk about today?”

Crowley grumbled(pouted) and leaned his head back, he slung an arm around the back of the sofa and his fingers brushed against Aziraphale’s shoulder. “No… maybe… nah...” he pinched the bridge of his nose. “let’s get out...go,” he gestured vaguely with his spare hand. “..out somewhere, do something.”

“What would you like to do, Dear?” he looked up from his book to the clock. “It’s nearly five, we could go out for an early dinner?”

Crowley shrugged. “Yeah sure, why not?” he pulled himself up and held out a hand to the Angel. “Shall we, Angel?”

Aziraphale took the offered hand and felt his cheeks redden. Crowley was such a _sweetie,_ even if he wouldn’t admit it. “The Ritz?” he suggested rubbing his thumb against Crowley’s, his eyes gleaned like stars when he felt the Demon return the gesture.

Crowley hummed and pulled out his keys before glancing at Aziraphale with a brow raised above his glasses. “Why don’t we drive for a bit? See what we feel in the mood for?”

“Why not?”

With that said the two left the shop and climbed into the Bentley- Aziraphale knowing better than to comment when Crowley held the door for him, instead opted to give his companion a bright smile which Crowley pretended to not notice, or enjoy. Once they were in the car and driving through streets, Aziraphale looked through his side mirror and frowned.

“They’re managing to keep up with you in their… whatever automobile that is...”

Crowley looked through his rear mirror. “…It’s a Moke...” his brow creased. “Why would you drive a Moke in London of all places?” He shook his head and turned the car left into a street, an action which caused Aziraphale to fling into the door and gasp.

“You go too fast!” the Angel gasped.

“ _I go to_ _o_ _fast for you?_ ”

Aziraphale let out a sound of annoyance. “You _drive_ too fast for me.”

Crowley let out a chuckle before turning down another street. He noticed, with a frown, that the Moke was still keeping up with them. It was while he was planning his next turn he noticed what appeared to be some sort of festival happening down one of the streets. He slammed the breaks on, and tried not to chuckle at the sound Aziraphale let out. “Hey, what’s that?” he pointed to the people dancing and wearing a rainbow of colours.

Aziraphale leaned forward in his seat to get a better look. “It appears to be a festival of some sort.”

“Shall we, scope it out?” Crowley suggested with a hand gesture.

“Yes, lets.”

Aziraphale and Crowley pulled themselves out of the car and took a quick glance at the angel and demon who were ‘discretely’ hiding by the corner edge of a building, before heading off into the fray of brightly coloured people.

 

X

 

“How do you propose that we follow them?” Meredith asked as they left the shop, she had yet to get herself a means of transport, she had instead been opting to miracle herself to wherever she needed to go- but getting a car was on her ‘to do’ list.

“I have an automobile, you could… _ride as passenger_.” he said the last words with disdain as he gestured for her to follow after him.

While tempted to retort with a witty quip, Meredith chose to remain silent and instead followed after the Angel. The pair didn’t have to walk very far before they were met with the sight of a 1968 mini Moke, the red car stood out like a sore thumb.

Meredith felt her brows raise high. “What in Satan’s name is that?”

“This is my vehicle.” The Angel replied climbing into the car.

Meredith was struck by the sight of the angel in the small ‘car’, he was so tall and lanky, _how_ he managed to fit inside the thing was a miracle- her mouth opened in an ‘o’ shape as she realised that it _was_ a miracle that he was able to get his long legs inside it. She clutched the ‘roof’ bar and climbed in. she was impressed that she did _not_ have to use magic for her to fit inside, the car had more room than she had thought it would.

“You in? Good, they’re getting away.” with that said the car reversed out onto the street before speeding after the Bentley.

“Goo- fuck you go really fast!” she gasped as she was jostled. “I didn’t think angel’s drove like this!” she watched as the Bentley went faster and somehow, this car, whatever it was, was managing to keep up. The angel, was… quite the driver. She tilted her head and watched him with thoughtful eyes. “You’re a good driver...”

The angel kept his eyes on the Bentley and still managed to avoid other traffic and pedestrians. “...I… thank you...” he said quietly.

“Don’t than-” Meredith was cut off as the car came to a screeching halt, jostling her roughly. “The fuck are you doing?!”

“They’ve stopped.”

“Huh?” Meredith watched the Bentley that was parked down a side street. There appeared to be some sort of party or something happening. She climbed out of the car and dashed to the building at the end of the side street, she felt the angel beside her as they leaned over the edge and watched as Aziraphale and Crowley climbed out of the car and headed into the mass of colours.

“Well now...” she tilted her head back and almost jumped at how close he was, they were literally nearly touching. She hoped that his good smell didn’t rub off onto her- it would take _ages_ to miracle off her. “Shall we follow?”

With a nod she and the angel followed after the two and were struck with how… _colourful_ everything was, it was almost like steeping into a rainbow kaleidoscope. People were wearing coloured beads as well as passing them out. There were also people waving rainbow flags and- from what she could see, there was an awful lot of kissing and dancing going on.

“Would you like some beads?” a woman walked up to her and before she had the opportunity to reply, she felt the beads being placed around her neck. She flinched, expecting something to happen to her, but when it didn’t, she looked down at the beads and fingered them.

“There is so much love in this place… between these people...” the angel beside her said quietly while he watched people dancing together.

“They certainly seem to be having fun.” Meredith felt herself smiling. The energy of this place was certainly something, she couldn’t sense the _love_. Not the way that she angel could, but she could certainly feel _something_ special about the area. The energy of the place was filling her with an excitement and an emotion… an emotion that she could not remember feeling for an age.

….but she wasn’t ready to admit to feeling that yet.

“I see them.” The angel pointed to the crowd of people and sure enough, there was Crowley and Aziraphale.

Meredith tilted her head and watched the sight before her. “What is he doing?” she watched as the Angel linked arms with two other men and seemed to be instructing them on how to do some sort of movements with their legs?

“He’s….” she turned to the Angel. “He’s _dancing_.”

She noted how scandalised the angel sounded and found herself almost feeling the same way. Angels, as far as she knew angels _couldn’t_ dance, it just wasn’t something they could do. But here was Aziraphale, doing some sort of dance with the humans. _Could this be where they got their powers from?_

 

X

 

Crowley resisted the urge to bury his face within his hands while he watched Aziraphale teach the two men how to dance the ‘Gavotte’. Of all of the things that they could have been doing at a pride parade, he was instead stuck watching Aziraphale with exasperation… admittedly, it was amused exasperation. He took some beads when they were offered to him and continued to watch Aziraphale.

“How long have you been together?” he looked beside him to see a tiny blonde girl beside him. Although he could sense that she was human, he was still paranoid so he took a quick glance to check where his stalkers were. Once he had ascertained that they were still watching him he replied to the girl.

“Oh… a long time.” he was vague and felt his lips twitch as Aziraphale let out a high laugh.

“You two seem to really love each other.”

“What makes you say that?” he tilted his head to the side, his eyes never leaving Aziraphale.

“You two haven’t taken your eyes off each other. It’s nice, what this parade’s all about. Stay happy.” with that said she bounded off.

Crowley was… actually impressed at the girls observational skills. It was then that he noticed Aziraphale receive a hug from his two dance partners- which did _not_ at all cause him to bristle- and was now making his way to him. “Having fun Angel?”

Aziraphale beamed. “Yes, you should have joined us!”

Crowley almost snorted. “In the Gavotte? No Angel, that’s your thing.”

A Wryly smile. “What about we do something that’s your thing?”

Crowley took note of some of the couples around them making out. “In _public_ Aziraphale?”

“What can I say Dear? The love around us has… had an effect...” and with that said he gripped Crowley’s jacket and surged forwards.

 

X

 

“Oh my...” Meredith commented while they watched the two embrace.

“Do you think that this is where they get their powers from?” the angel asked, and at the look she sent him, he elaborated. “T-the dancing, I mean.”

Meredith watched the human in their ‘pride celebration’ there was dancing and embracing and _happiness_. The dancing created so much energy between the partners that she could believe that the act would be where the pair received their powers. She glanced at the angel beside her. It couldn’t hurt, could it? Dancing with the Angel? Crowley and Aziraphale did it and they hadn’t died or had anything bad happen to them. She glanced to the other dancers, then back at the angel.

“Sure,” she shrugged nonchalantly. “Why not.” she turned and cracked her shoulders.

The angel shifted uncomfortably, as though he had not expected her to want to dance with him. “W-what, us?” he stammered, voicing his feelings.

She shifted from foot to foot and held her arms out. “Let’s dance. Only way to be sure.” and with that she pushed forwards, her arms wrapping around him and she clutched at his back like she had seen the humans do. She felt him stiffen. “Oh come on.”

“I’m an Angel,” he protested. “I don’t dance.”

“And demon’s don’t dance with angels, but here we are.”

It could have been the sass in her voice, or it could have been the human couple who accidentally bumped into them. It was unknown what it was, but whatever it was he suddenly surged into action. His arms gripping her as he swayed awkwardly from side to side with her. She gasped and moved awkwardly with him, their bodies bumping into each other’s awkwardly. They moved together for a little while before they felt their eyes closing, the energy of the place filling them with the feel for the dance.

“This is...” she began.

“Yeah...” he replied.

She felt her body tingle as his hands moved up and down her sides awkwardly. Angel’s couldn’t dance, what they did was often uncoordinated and strange but whatever he was doing… she found herself enjoying it... she was ready to admit to feeling that certain emotion, she was happy... There was just one thing…

“Hey Angel...”

“Yes…?”

“You got a name?”

 

X

 

“Would you look at that?” Aziraphale practically swooned as they headed back to the Bentley. He gestured to their stalkers.

Crowley followed the angel’s line of sight and his brows raised over his glasses. “I don’t think Hastur would have anything nice to say about that.” there was an edge to his voice, what the edge meant though was anyone’s guess, but Aziraphale seemed to catch on.

“This may well be the start of something beautiful for them..” Aziraphale sighed blissfully as he opened the door to his side of the car.

“Don’t go prattling on about sensing love.” Crowley grumbled under his breath.

“Why not?” Aziraphale replied, feigning hurt as they slid into the car. “I _can_ sense love.”

“Took you six thousand years to sense mine.” Crowley grumbled with a smile.

“Oh Crowley.” Aziraphale reached over and touched the other’s cheek. “Can you ever _forgive_ me for being so _stupid_.”

“Already have.” and with that said they both leaned forwards, their lips touching in a gentle kiss.


	4. Of Roles Reversed

X Of Roles Reversed X

 

Meredith hummed to herself as she filled a little blue ceramic bowl with some cat food. She had been living on earth for six months and had developed a routine of sorts. In the morning she would water the lilies and ferns she had decorating the walls and in corner pots of her apartment. Then she would feed the cat, not her cat, but a cat that belonged to the old lady down the hall, Elaine. After that she would head down to the cafe where she and James would watch Aziraphale and Crowley.

She smiled as she heard a ‘meow’ from the balcony. “Coming Edgar!” she called out as she lifted the bowl. Her short heels clicked against the hardwood floor as she made her way to the balcony. Her eyes softened as she saw the fat grey tabby tapping his paws at the window.

She slid the glass door open and knelt down to greet her friend. “Hello Edgar.” she rubbed his head and giggled as he preened at her and rubbed his head against her fingers. She placed the bowl down and watched as he went straight for the meal.

“Chubby cat.” she murmured with a side grin. She pat him one more time before closing the door. She looked around her apartment and reflected. At her giant circular day bed that served as a her sofa and bed, that was littered with at least a dozen fluffy cushions, all in lovely shades of purples and greys. At her plants, she had bought them on a whim, thinking they smelt nice, and not she liked to look at them and lavish attention on them the way that any cat would on a plant. Her stone and wood kitchen, which was some cupboards, a bench and filled with just about every kitchen appliance one would ever want; was quite possibly her favourite part of her small apartment, she had been learning how to cook, especially since she enjoyed her food so much, she had thought, why not learn to cook it?

She glanced at the cat clock on her kitchen wall. She should probably leave soon to meet with James. She walked to the front door and pulled her black wool coat from the coat hanger and slipped it on, it would be chilly outside. She stepped from her apartment and closed the door behind her with a click.

“Meredith dear!” she heard an old woman’s voice call out.

“Good morning Elaine.” she greeted with a polite nod.

The older woman, Elaine, tugged on her bright floral dressing gown. “Have you seen my Eddie? he’s run off again.”

Meredith smiled. “He’s having breakfast on my balcony.”

The old woman breathed a sigh of relief and clutched at her chest with her long bony fingers. “Well at least he’s safe- he was gone for two days this time, _two days_ ,” she made a gesture with her hand. “I tell you that cat will be the death of me, completely vanishes for days on end, then comes back fatter than ever- just like my Niles-”

“I’m sorry Elaine,” Meredith cut in before she could be pulled into one of Elaine’s _talks_ about her dead husband. “I’m meeting James, he should be outside waiting for me.”

Elaine winked at her. “Quite a nice young man you have there,  _big feet too_ .” 

Meredith laughed before waving at the old woman while she walked away. “Have a good day Elaine!” she called out. 

Meredith lived on the sixth floor of her apartment building, in apartment number three. A joke that she enjoyed, especially when James had come to her home for the first time and had blanched at her humour.  She walked down the flights of stairs, partly because she needed the exercise- she had a diet to maintain, those doughnuts did not come without the need to exercise- and partly because she enjoyed the mild irritation it caused James from having to wait for her. W hen she finally walked out of the apartment building, she took great amusement in the way he was standing next to his car, arms crossed and a dour expression on his face.

“Morning!” she walked up to him. 

He nodded in turn. “Shall we walk or drive?”

Meredith looked up a the sky, the sun still had yet to come out from behind the clouds. “Drive?” she tugged her jacket a little tighter around her.

He nodded and climbed into his car, she followed suit and flipped through the radio stations while he drove to their cafe, by the time she had settled on ‘Take on Me’ they had arrived at the cafe. She grumbled when he turned the car off and the climbed out of it. She supposed it was her own fault for living so close to the cafe. The pair walked in and climbed into their regular book, and while ignoring the grin from the waitress, they ordered their usual. A coffee with milk and a caramel shot for Meredith and a tall black for James.

“Have you done anymore drawings?” Meredith asked while waiting for her drink.

James reached into his white coat and pulled out a small notepad. He placed it on the table and slid it towards her. Meredith flipped it open and was met with the sight of a grey pencil sketch of the tower of London, then on the next page the Bentley, then the bookshop, Crowley and Aziraphale, then herself. The picture made her pause, it was a sketch from a week ago, when she had been cooking french toast for their dinner.

“This is… really good,” she fingered the sketch of herself, he had even put the details of her arm tattoo’s in. “You create wonderful art, wish I could make something like this.” she slid the book back to him.

His cheeks reddened and  he slid his glasses up. “Thank you.”

“Your order guys.” The waitress slid to their table and passed their drinks to them. “ _Enjoy_.” with a wink she turned and swaggered away.

Meredith clicked her fingers causing the waitress to roll her ankle and fall sideways with a shriek. She chucked and looked back at James who was watching her with a disapproving frown. She raised a brow at him and something in his seemed to snap, a chuckle slipped from his lips. Her shoulders shook as she felt her laughter bubble from her stomach and up to the back of her throat, their gleaming eyes locked and they both threw their heads back in joined laughter.  The glare that they received seemed to fuel them on more their laughter was pure and each sound that one made, seemed to send the other into more. 

“That wasn’t very nice.” James admonished as his laughter died down. 

“Oh _come on._ ” Meredith waved her hand dismissively. “She had it coming. Just a tumble, hardly a fall, barely hurt her at all.

J ames tilted his head thoughtfully. “Hardly a fall...” he said quietly before taking a sip of his drink.

Meredith rolled her eyes. “She’ll be fine.” she drank her drink and glanced out of the window to the bookshop. “Can we see our friends?”

James’ dark eyes turned to the shop. “The Bentley’s there, so Crowley’s there, he’s been there all night, I’d wager.” another sip of his drink. 

“I don’t understand why he doesn’t just move in with him.” Meredith eyed the shop. “He spends most of his time there anyway.” 

“Does it hurt?” James said suddenly.

Meredith frowned and turned back to him briefly before looking back at the shop. Crowley and Aziraphale were walking out together. “They’re leaving- going out for a walk it looks like,” she downed the rest of her coffee in one swig and looked back at the angel across from her. “Shall we?”

His expression was pensive. “We shall.” he nodded.

 

X

 

“Our stalkers are back.” Crowley said while he stood at a window. He turned back to Aziraphale who was reading a book on his sofa. “Every day, for six months now.” he leaned against the window and watched the two laughing together in their booth.

“They seem to have become friendly with each other.” Aziraphale commented from beside him, having put the book down to join Crowley in his observations. 

“Well they spend so much time together, figures that something would happen to them, it’s like that thing… what’s called-” Crowley looked around from side to side while he tried to think of the name. 

Aziraphale watched him fondly while he struggled to remember the name. “Stockholm!” he said suddenly. “Stockholm syndrome! That’s it!”

“I think that that’s only for captors and captives, Dear.” Aziraphale commented. “But I think you may be on the right track.”

“Yeah...” Crowley went back to watching their stalkers.

Aziraphale watched him with a sad smile. It was really getting to Crowley, their lack of privacy, and he completely understood. These two, the angel and demon had been watching them for six months without any sign of stopping. Crowley was, contrary to what others may think, a very private person, he liked and valued his privacy as well as his space, and having that taken from him, must have been driving him crazy. Even though the two weren’t actively invading their space, Crowley  _knew_ that they were their, which was playing on his mind more that he would ever admit; but Aziraphale had known Crowley a long time, had loved him for a long time, and he knew just how Crowley was feeling at this moment. 

“Have you been to the new flower nursery?” Aziraphale asked suddenly.

Even though he was wearing his glasses, Aziraphale felt Crowley’s eyes shift to him. “ Flower nursery?”

Aziraphale smiled. He knew that that would help make him feel better. “Yes, a new shop has opened in the next street over, they have all sorts of wonderful plants,” He reached out and touched Crowley’s shoulder. “would you like to go have a look, see if we can find some nice new friends for your plants?”

C rowley’s answering smile caused a wild blooming of love in his chest.

“You’re too soft on those plants.” Crowley grumbled while trying to stop his smile as they linked arms and left the shop.

“Oh shush.” Aziraphale smiled as the door closed behind them with a click. “They need a little kindness Dear.”

“Give them an inch, they’ll take a mile, Angel.” 

“Oh Crowley.” Aziraphale chuckled. They had barely taken twenty steps down the street when he glanced back and noticed that their ‘stalkers’ were following after them. Aziraphale was half tempted to perform a little _miracle_ to get them away. 

“Aziraphale.” Crowley said quietly drawing the Angel’s attention. “We are going to slip into that crowd,” he glanced over his glasses and Aziraphale moved his eyes, but not his head to see the crowd of what appeared to be loud Australian tourists. Crowley’s head then moved closer and his breath touched the angel’s neck. “Then I’ll perform a little miracle of my own.” 

Aziraphale thought about it for barely a moment before he nodded in agreement. What happened next, happened so suddenly, that even with his angelic sense of time, even he had trouble keeping track of it all. Crowley and he crossed the street and fell into step with some lovely Australians who were cheering something about European beer. While at the same time their stalkers were drenched, quite literally with an almost flood of water, when a car sped past and hit a puddle (small river?) from a shop that was cleaning their windows.  Aziraphale was then dragged into the pub with with Australians and found himself learning about, bears and dropping? While Crowley watched their confused, and wet stalkers.

“Yes!” Crowley grinned.

“ ‘Yes’ Dear?” 

“They’re going.” 

Aziraphale looked out of the window and noticed that, yes, the angel and Demon were in fact, leaving.  Well. That had certainly worked. He turned to the grinning demon beside him and returned the grin. 

“Where to now?” 

“First, the flower shop, then, St. James’ park? Then the Ritz?”

“That sounds lovely dear.”

 

X

 

A s their luck would have it, when they reached St. James’s park, their stalking counterparts were there. Sitting at a park bench, their clothes dry, and they were peacefully feeding the ducks together. While unlucky for them, luck seemed to do them one favour, their stalkers had yet to notice them.

“We could go Dear, we could go do something else.” Aziraphale suggested, his hand coming to rest on the others back, his thumb rubbing reassuring lines on Crowley’s back.

Crowley made a noise before dragging Aziraphale to a nearby tree where he sat on the grass and stared at the two who were not even ten feet away from them. Aziraphale sat on the grass beside him and sent him a confused look. What were they doing here? They could quite literally turn and see them,  not to mention, they were  _magical_ beings, it wouldn’t take  _too_ much effort to sense them. Crowley put a finger to his lips and gestured that they listened to them. Aziraphale tried to not think about the irony of it all.

“I can’t _believe_ that I lost them…” James leaned forward and glared at his hands clenched between his knees. “So stupid… so stupid!” 

“Hey..” Meredith patted him on the shoulder awkwardly. “It’s okay, just a small fuck up, you’re an angel, you’ll probably get a reprimand or something, right?” she didn’t want to think about what her side would do if they found our about this.

Crowley raised a brow at her actions, Aziraphale smiled. 

James shook his head before looking up at the cloudy sky. “You’re probably right. Probably a lecture from Gabriel.” he frowned and threw some bread to the ducks.

Meredith smile and patted his knee before throwing some of her own bread to the ducks. “Is Gabriel as much of an arse as I’ve heard he is?”

Aziraphale found himself smiling, his smile growing as Crowley laid beside him, his head coming to rest in his lap. He looked down at the demon who was watching the couple intently  and ran a hand through his hair, he loved how Crowley leaned into the touch. He went back to watching the two.

“The Archangel Gabriel… he’s… something...”

Meredith let out a laugh. “Just say he’s an arse, ‘something’ is just a  _nice_ way of saying something rude.”

James chuckled. “Alright, he’s an arse.” at Meredith’s shocked expression he laughed. “You told me to say it!” he said between his laughs.

“Well yeah,” she replied baffled. “but, if I said that ‘bout my boss, he’d eat my tongue, _and that’s just the beginning._ ” 

Jame’s watched her with a frown while she fed the ducks. He appeared to be arguing with himself about something, it was an expression that Aziraphale knew well. “ Can I ask you something, demon?” 

Meredith raised a brow and turned to him with a tilted head. “Yes?”

“Does it hurt, falling?”

Aziraphale felt Crowley stiffen.

Meredith chuckled and looked back at the ducks and tossed some more bread to the ducks and smiled as the swans came to join. “I wouldn’t know, I never fell.”

Aziraphale tilted his head with a frown, a frown that increased as Crowley shot up, his body tense.

James, had also gone tense, his whole body seemed poised, for fight or flight was yet to be determined. “Y-You… y-you mean...”

Meredith nodded, her face showing no expression. “I was born a demon, I’m a child of Lilith.”

James shot up from the chair, his eyes wide and his whole body trembling. He pointed to her with one hand while the other clenched so tight his knuckles went white. “Y-you…” he stepped back. “Away from me Demon!”

“James.” she said, her voice was sad and it cut Aziraphale. “Please, talk to me James..”

“Don’t!” he shouted, drawing the attention of some of the park’s other visitors. “Begone from me Demon!” he fled, past Aziraphale and Crowley and out of the park, a demon watching his retreating back sadly.

_Contrary to popular belief, there is something that Angel’s hate more than Demon’s who fell, and that is those who were born into their status._

 

X

 

“Hey Edgar...” Meredith lifted her head from the cushions to see the cat nudging against her. She smiled weakly and stroked his head. It had been three weeks since their fight and every time she had tried to talk to him, he had ignore her, at one point he had even threatened her with holy water. She was not sure why she even felt this way, she _missed_ him, a fact that repulsed her but she couldn’t stop herself.

The cat mewed again and nudged her. “You’re hungry aren’t you?” she scratched his head and pulled herself up to stand. She walked into the kitchen and prepared his food. “Here you go.” she took the food outside and closed the door behind her once he was outside and eating. It was then that there was a knock on her door.

‘James?’ she was instantly rushing to the door and flung it only, only to feel her heart stop. “D-Duke Hastur.”

“Expecting someone else Meredith?” He said with a cold smile.

“No Sir.” she replied carefully. “Come in.” she gestured for the Duke of Hell to come in, which he did, and he took his time surveying her flat.

“What have you found out about Crowley?” he asked coldly as she closed the door.

“He d-doesn’t seem to get his powers from anything human...” she replied evenly, she had to make sure she didn’t let anything show. Satan only knows what he thought about her flat. “I believe it has something to do with the angel, perhaps some sort of Angelic magic?”

Hastur paused and sniffed the air of her flat, her heart skipped a beat. “It smells… Holy in here.” his black eyes pierced her.

James flashed in her mind. The times they had spent together in her flat, he had _napped_ on her day bed for Satan’s sake. “I...” she had to think quick. “I.. I had the, the window open, something flowed in through there, that’s why I shut it, couldn’t stand the smell.”

Suddenly he grabbed her arm and she let out a pained cry. “You are taking too long.” his voice was venom. Her body trembled as she felt a piercing pain take where he was holding, he then let got of her arm and grasped her chin causing her to scream, the raw kind of scream, the scream of real pain. “Don’t waste our time, _get results_.” he pushed her to the floor and just like that was gone.

She clutched at her arm and looked down, the skin had been burned, the kind of burn that begins to melt the skin and covers the area in welts, it was most of her left forearm. With a groan she pulled herself up and walked to the mirror, the same damage had been done to her chin and jawline. She felt wet tears roll down her cheeks. She touched the area and tried to heal it with magic, nothing happened. Her tears fell down her cheeks and she collapsed to the floor. It _hurt. It hurt._

 

X

 

She sat at her old booth in the cafe and ordered her usual. She looked down at her arm, it had been a day and it still did not look any better, magic did nothing. Whatever Hastur had done, he had wanted it to last. She had tried to cover it up, but the pain worsened when she did that so she had left it uncovered, which was drawing more attention to herself than she would have wanted but what could she do?

“You and he still fighting?” she looked up to see the waitress gesture to James who had the audacity to still come to the cafe and sit in that spot.

“It doesn’t matter anymore.” Meredith answered quietly.

“If you won’t treat your heart, treat that wounds cause they need a doctor.” was all the waitress said before leaving.

Meredith lifted the drink to her lips before frowning. Something was wrong with her drink, something was _missing._ She looked up at James and blanched when her mind suggested that it was him that was missing. Why would she miss him? Why would she want anything to do with him after what he had said to her? Why would she- she blinked when she found herself standing at his booth looking at him while he scowled back.

“ _What_.” he hissed.

“Look, I’m sorry about how I was born.” she inwardly shook her head, _why_ was she apologising for that?! She shouldn’t have to apologise for her own birth. When he said nothing she clenched her fists before whimpering at the pain in her arm.

“W-Wha?” before she could hear what he had to say, she had stormed off.

 

X

 

She found herself sitting on a park bench at St. James’ Park feeding the ducks. She felt the chair dip on either side of her, but she did not look to them, instead she continued to stare forward at the ducks.

“What happened to your arm?” a gentle voice asked.

She frowned, the voice was familiar, but she really did not want to come out of her little mental duck-filled world. “It got burned. My face too.”

“You should have them seen too.” the gentle voice suggested.

“Nothing can be done for them.” she replied casually, no sense in lying, what good or bad would come from it.

“I heard water’s good for burns, cools the skin or something.” the person on her other side said.

She shook her head. “There is nothing that I can do for them, I’ll probably have them the rest of my life.” which, given how Hastur was, was probably not that much longer.

“We’ve seen you here before, with your friend,” the gentle voice was clearly very interested in having a conversation with her. She wondered if she could tell them to fuck off, or if that was just too much effort at that moment. “Are you meeting him here?”

She let out a bitter laugh. “No, he doesn’t want to see me again, he made that pretty clear.”

“You two have a fight?” the other, rougher, voice asked.

“Something like that.” she closed her eyes. “We were on thin ice anyway, but I said something and now he hates me more.” why was she sharing this with them? Two humans that meant nothing to her? Though, was there any harm in it? “We were… similar, similar goal… and I think I was a little lonely, he was a constant, you know?”

“Sometimes friends have… little spats, like that, I think it’ll get better.” The gentle voice again.

She wanted to laugh, so she did. “Thanks, but I don’t think it’ll work like that for me.”

“Well we’ll leave you to it.” the gruffer voice patted her on the back before she felt the weight being lifted from the chair, she heard the footsteps of the two leaving and opened her eyes to look at them, but when she turned her head she was met with the sight a figure in white sitting beside her.

“James?” she said with wide eyes.

He looked at her, his dark eyes sad. “What happened to you?” he asked quietly.

She winced as she felt him take her hand. “This is what happens when you take too long for Hell’s liking.”

He frowned and lifted her arm so that he could inspect it. He touched it with his fingertips and she felt the magic flow from them, she instantly prepared to cry out in pain and was shocked when there was none. She looked down at her arm and it was better, there was scaring from Hastur’s burn, but it didn’t hurt anymore, there was no pain! She looked at him with questioning eyes. He said nothing and instead reached up and touched her chin. His thumb gently stroked her jawline and, like before, the pain was gone.

“I… why James?” her body trembled.

“I’m sorry Meredith.” he said quietly as he pulled back. He then held a brown bag out to her.

She took the paper bag and opened it, inside was some bread. She looked back at him and saw his weak smile, an apology. She grinned and pulled out a piece of bread which she proceeded to throw at his face.

“Hey!” he lunged forward to try and take the bag, she leaped back and threw another piece at him with a laugh.

 

X

 

“I’m glad they’re friends again.” Aziraphale said with a smile while they watched the two chase each other and shriek with laughter.

“Perhaps they can spend more time together, and less time stalking us now.”

“Crowley, you like watching them, I know, and I know it because you’re _nice._ ”

“Oh _shut up_ Aziraphale.”


	5. Christmas Days

X Christmas days X

 

James was sitting in their regular booth when she walked into the cafe. She took note that he was wearing black pants and a light blue button up shirt, a nice change from his usual white ensemble. She watched as he leaned closer to the table and appeared to be sketching something, she smiled lightly, this wasn’t unusual for him. In the full two years that she had been on Earth, she had gotten to know his routine well enough. She was however, a little surprised at how easily they had become comfortable with each other, especially being what the were. She wondered why they were able to adopt to their routines and each other’s presence so well. It was certainly something.

“Are you going to sit, or just stare at him all day?” a voice teased from beside her.

She gave a sidelong glance to the waitress who was also a constant in her earthly life. “I’ll have a coffee, you know how I like it.” she did not wait for a response before waltzing to her seat.

“One of these days you’ll give me a _please_!” The waitress called out exasperated, but she still turned to fill the order, with a small smirk on her lips.

M eredith slid into the booth and watched as the angel sketched. He appeared to be drawing a picture of a small child. She took a quick glance around the cafe and took note of a young blonde girl, who was sitting by herself, drinking a milk shake. She glanced back at the drawing and saw him adding finishing touches to the milkshake. He was getting better at drawing, she noted, he had improved greatly over the year.  She nodded at the waitress as she placed the coffee mug in front of her. She took a sip of her drink and smiled as she thought about a temptation she had performed a few days earlier.

“You’re looking _pleased_ with yourself.” James commented, not looking up from his drawing.

“I managed to anger and entire parish of church goers on Sunday.” she crossed her legs and leaned back into the booth. She grinned as he stilled in his drawing. He said nothing, but his cool glance up at her above his glasses prompted her to continue. “I tempted a priest into, ‘coming out’ as they say,” she took a pleased sip of her drink. “confessing his feelings to his love, a teacher who had been attending his sermon for _years_ , the two are now planning an impromptu trip and the priest left his church. They’re _so_ happy together.” 

The angel across from her placed his pencil down and folded his hands on the table in front of him. “So you  _tempted_ a priest, to make him happy?” he raised an incredulous brow.

Meredith grinned. “ Yes they’re happy, but think, if you will, about the repercussions of their happiness.” at his confused frown, she elaborated. “All of the unhappy church goers, angry and  _cursing_ the men for their happiness, what they think as  _good christian behaviour,_ is actually fuelling moderate amounts of evil in them- at least one hundred people, I’m quite happy with myself.”

J ames’ mouth hung open as he processed what she had said. “You made a couple happy, to  _devastate_ a community.” 

She waved her hand dismissively. “If they want to have a problem with two men celebrating their happiness, that’s their sin, not mine.”  at his expression she rolled her eyes. “What,” she gestured with her hands. “It’s not like you have to do a miracle to cancel me out or anything, they cancel each other out.”

H e watched her silently for a long period of time before he went back to his drawing. She shook her head at him with a fond smile before glancing around the shop, she could see some of the staff hanging coloured balls and… spiky coloured vines? “James,” she whispered. “what’s that about.”

James glanced up and looked at the waitress who was now adding little stars to the display.  He turned his head back to her and tilted his head in confusion for a small period of time before his eyes widened and he nodded as though realising something.  “ That’s right, you weren’t here last December… these are called  _decorations_ for the celebration  of  _Christmas._ ”

Meredith pulled a face, being a demon, the birth of Christ was  _not_ something that they celebrated.  She looked at the golden and red tinsel with the bright green stars speckled through it- it did look pretty, she supposed. She had been down in Hell last December, giving her annual report to Beelzebub, so this would be her first exposure to the holiday. “ What’s with the plastic vines?”

James let out a chuckle. “It’s  _tinsel_ humans use it to ‘bring out the holiday cheer’, so to speak.” he reached out to take her coffee mug. “It’s a decoration, wait til you see the trees.” he took a sip, and smiled behind the mug when she noticed and let out a sound of protest.

“That’s my drink.” she whined and reached out for it, her face turned mournful when she took it back and saw that it was empty. “Bastard.” she hailed the waitress for another. She lifted leg that was crossed and stretching it out she placed it on his thigh, using it as a footrest. When he raised a brow at her she gestured down to her now empty mug, he rolled his eyes and went back to his picture.

“Have our _charges_ returned?” She piped, looking over at the book shop. Aziraphale and Crowley had disappeared some days ago and they had yet to see them since. She would have followed after them but considering neither her nor James knew where they had gone, the pair had turned up to the cafe days ago and while waiting, had noticed the lack of Bentley and after waiting the day, they had noticed that Aziraphale was not there either.

J ames shook his head. He didn’t seem all too bothered, if one were to ask Meredith’s opinion on his demeanour.  She wasn’t too bothered either, not really, she just wished that they had something else to do. Staying put and waiting for the two to reappear was just  _boring_ . If she had a choice, she’d do some travelling while they waited, but as it were, hell had rules for these sorts of things. Heaven too, apparently, which was why they had been lurking in the pairs regular spots for the last few days.

“Can you move your foot, it’s ah… a little _close_.” he shifted uncomfortably.

She looked down at where her foot was, a grin spread across her face. “ Why  _James_ , when did you make the effort?” 

He scowled at her before something in the window caught his attention. She turned to look, it was the Bentley, with a large tree strapped to the roof.  Her brows raised and she leaned forward to get a better view. “What is  _that_ ?” she asked as she watched Crowley and Aziraphale climb out of the car.

“ _That_ is a Christmas tree.” James supplied for her, his hand slid down and gripped her ankle which had moved with her. He slid it away but did not take it off his leg. “Aziraphale had a small one last year, tiny thing sat on his front counter. They must want a big one this year?”

“How is he able to touch something that is holy?” she murmured as she watched Crowley help the Angel take the tree into the shop.

“My understanding is that that is why _we’re_ here.”

 

X

 

“I quite liked the look of the cottage Dear, the garden was something that I could picture you turning into something beautiful. There’s also lots of room for books and your artwork.”

Crowley listened as Aziraphale gushed, for lack of a better term, about the last cottage they had viewed. They had just spent the last four days travelling down south, looking at places where they could move in together. After everything that had happened between them, this felt like the next step. Crowley felt a hand touch his thigh and he reached down to grasp it. It felt right… the idea of them living together was right.

“Is that the one you want Angel?” He glanced at the Angel briefly before looking back at the road. 

“I, it is, but what about you? I don’t want you not liking, or regretting the house.” he squeezed the hand holding his and smiled warmly at the Demon beside him.

Crowley felt his shoulder’s twitch as he let out a chuckle. “Angel, I wouldn’t regret living anywhere, as long as you were there.” if was sappy, he rolled his eyes at himself, but he wasn’t going to _not_ tell the Angel the truth now. Not after everything.

Aziraphale shined with love and light and it was almost blinding, it was a good thing that Crowley was wearing his sunglasses. “Crowley.” Aziraphale reached over and clutched Crowley’s hand with both of his. “Dear, I want us to get the house. I want read while you garden, I want to sit by your plants and eat sushi- or crepes.”

Crowley’s eyes were _not_ watering. “I want that too.” he smiled shakily and ran his thumb over the offered hands. “Let’s do it. I’ll ring and organise it when they open tomorrow.”

“Oh this is exciting!” Aziraphale beamed. “I can’t wait to start packing!” he paused as they pulled out the front of the shop. “Can we...” he trailed off, his eyes locking onto the bookshop, there was a sadness in his eyes, it didn’t take much for Crowley to notice.

“What’s the matter, Angel?” he asked.

The Angel turned to him, a wetness to his eyes and it was all Crowley could do to stop himself from reaching over and embracing him. “It’s just,” Aziraphale smiled sadly. “Can we have one last Christmas here? We have the tree anyway… and.. I’d like the memory, also we need to say goodbye to the ducks and-”

Crowley cut him off by clutching his face with his hands. “It’s alright Angel, we have time now. We can get the cottage and still have a Christmas here, whatever you want.”  


Aziraphale smiled radiantly, the kind of smile that he only seemed to have for the demon. “Thank you,” he leaned into the hands touching his cheeks. “You’re so good to me, you always have been. Thank you Dear.”

Crowley felt his cheeks flush, he mumbled out a, ‘it’s nothing’ before moving forward to capture the Angel’s lips in his. Aziraphale made a sound, before enthusiastically responding. Their arms wound around each other while they kissed tenderly for what felt like ages. The only stopped when the Angel pulled back with excitement.

“Let’s set the tree up!” he clapped his hands together with a grin.

Crowley let out a chuckle. “Sure thing Angel.”

The two of them climbed out of the Bentley and went about untying the tree from it’s roof. Aziraphale looked over to the cafe across the street and smiled. Crowley, more discreetly, looked over and sighed. “Don’t they have better things to do?” he complained as he undid the last clips. He lifted the stump end of the tree while Aziraphale took the middle/top.

“They’ve been doing this for two years now.” Aziraphale opened the door to the shop and they manoeuvred the tree into it. “I think that, honestly, it’s more about spending time together, more than watching us.”

Crowley rolled his eyes from behind his glasses. “This again, they’re not _in love_.” he set the tree down into an old tree stand that Aziraphale had left out for this such event.

“I never said that they were,” the Angel quipped slyly. “but, they _do_ spend an awful amount of time together, they’ll be friends, if nothing else.”

“Well let’s hope their bosses don’t find out, it’ll be _hell_ to pay.” he clicked his fingers and Aziraphale’s Christmas decorations box appeared, some of the items were hundreds of years old, but they suited the Angel, especially the tartan bows.

Aziraphale glanced at the window quickly before moving to the box. He pulled out an old ceramic mistletoe, he eyed the demon with a sly smile before miracling it onto a bookshelf, practically above them. He clasped his hands together and eyed the other with an almost _sassy_ expression. It took Crowley a few moments to notice the Angel watching him.

“What?” he said before noticing the Angel’s finger pointing up. He slowly looked up above his glasses and to the bookshelf. He looked back at the Angel with a smile. “You could have just asked Angel.” he surged forwards and pushed himself into the Angel, their lips locking harshly.

 

X

 

“That plant…” Meredith murmured as she watched Aziraphale magic it to the bookshelf. “What is it? What purpose is it? Why does he seem so excited about it?” she turned to James who was pushed close to her as the two peered into the shop through a window.

James flushed. “That is ah, mistletoe.” he scratched his head. “It’s something they use at Christmas… s-silly, Christmas traditions and all.”

“But what is it for?” she pressed, wondering why he was going red, she turned to him fully.

James fidgeted. “I need to go- reports to make and all that.” and with that said he practically ran back to his Moke.

Meredith watched his retreating back with a frown. “Well that’s… that’s something...” she looked back to the shop and noticed the two embracing. Her eyes rose back to the plant and she hummed thoughtfully.

 

X

 

Meredith clicked her fingers to unlock the door to her apartment, it was as she was opening the door she heard the sound of her name being called. She turned to see Elaine rushing to her, in her arms was a brightly coloured cube with some ribbon.

“It’s good that I caught you, I was just on my way out.” the older woman smiled.

“Is everything alright Elaine?” Meredith tilted her head to the older woman.

Elaine smiled and held out the brightly coloured cube to her. “Something small, a thank you really.”

Meredith frowned and accepted the cube. “What is this for?” she looked the strange object up and down. It was clearly a box wrapped with paper and ribbon, but what was it’s purpose? Why was Elaine giving it to her?

Elaine waved dismissively. “It’s just a small Christmas present, a thank you for everything that you’ve done for Eddie and myself, it’s been good having you around dearie.”

Meredith froze, her ears rang as she stared down at the box. It was a present, a _Christmas_ present. She was holding a present that was made for the birth of Christ and she was able to hold it without being burned in any way, shape or form. A Christmas present. “I… I...” she struggled to find her words.

“You’re welcome Dear,” the old woman smiled. “I hope you like it, have a good Christmas, I’ll be at my daughters for the week, I’ve left food for Eddie but I know he’ll come bother you so I’ll thank you again, now, for feeding him.” she touched Meredith’s shoulder lightly. “Merry Christmas Dear.” And with that said, she left.

Meredith stared down at the box and moved automatically. Her legs taking her into her apartment and onto her day bed. She sat down and stared at the box which sat unmoving in her lap. What was she supposed to do with it? Did she open it? Was there something inside or was it just the box? Is this how humans celebrated Christmas? With boxes? She shook the box and jumped when she heard something inside it. She then stared at the box for a long time before deciding to open it. She ripped at the paper and found a cardboard box underneath it, and when she opened the box she found a box of chocolates. She hesitantly opened the box, just because she had not been burned by holy righteousness yet, did not mean that it was not going to happen.

“They _look_ like chocolates.” she murmured to herself as she looked down at the chocolates. Slowly she took one from the packaging and slipped it into her mouth. _Yum,_ they certainly tasted like chocolates. She looked down at the box thoughtfully.

 

_Perhaps a human Christmas was not as Holy as she thought?_

 

X

 

She tugged her coat closer to her as she walked down the street towards the bookshop. As she walked she took notice of all of the shops that were filled with Christmas decorations and the tinsel and stars that hung across the outside of buildings and the street lights. She also took note that, whenever a couple stepped under some of that mistletoe stuff, they kissed. This had caused her to hypothesise that perhaps the plant had some magical kissing powers? Only she had already walked under many of the plant and had yet to kiss anyone, perhaps it was for couples? Or perhaps it’s magic only worked on humans? Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed that she had reached the bookshop, her eyes locking onto James who was standing by a streetlight looking into the shop- or lurking, he looked very much like he was lurking.

“You’re awfully close to them, not even trying to hide?” she teased, coming to stand beside him.

He glanced down at her. “They would not notice, even if I yelled their names.”

She glanced into the shop, she could very easily see an Angel and Demon embracing on the sofa, by a beautifully decorated tree. “Is the mistletoe… does it have something to do with kissing?” she looked back at him.

He glanced down at her, his dark eyes reflecting the lights from inside, his cheeks reddened. “It’s a human tradition… they,” he scratched his arm awkwardly. “they kiss under mistletoe, I’m not sure where it came from, nothing to do with the birth of the young Lord Jesus, that much I know.”

“A kiss?” she tilted her head with a raised brow.

“Y-Yes...” he stammered. “A kiss.”

Meredith looked up at the street lamp, a sly smile took her, she stepped closer to him. “This _human_ tradition...” she dusted some snow from his shoulders. “deserves some _testing_ , don’t you think?” she gestured up and her smile widened when she watched him look up and notice what was above them. 

“Is this a  _ temptation  _ demon?” he hissed, but made no motion to flee, or smite her.

She slid her arms around his shoulders and moved closer, her body practically purring at the heat radiating from him. “ No, but it is  _ tempting _ , isn’t it?”

He made a motion that seemed to indicate that he was going to flee, but something, perhaps a gust of wind, perhaps a by passer, pushed into him, causing him to fall forward into her, their lips locking. Meredith felt her eyes widen, she had  _ not  _ expected for that to happen, but she wasn’t about to stop it. She tightened her hold and pushed against him, this kiss, whatever it was, felt rather wonderful, a warmth spread through her, and another feeling, one that increased tenfold when his arms gripped her tightly and he returned the kiss with as much enthusiasm as she.

 

_ Joy, she felt, joy. _

 

X

 

Crowley gasped as Aziraphale pulled him into his lap, their crotches brushing against each other deliciously. He  _ loved  _ when Aziraphale took control like this, especially when the angel used his  _ holy fingers _ . He gasped, said angel was doing exactly that, the powers that were once used for smiting were now teasingly jolting the tiniest sparks of holy magic against him, hot, but not burning. He rocked against the angel, his breaths coming out in hisses. 

He opened his eyes and looked down at the Angel whose whole form was illuminated by the light from the lights on the tree. “ Ssshall we clossse up sshop?” he hissed, his whole body trembling as the angel slid a hand inside his shirt, the hot fingers tingling across his chest.

“ We can.” Aziraphale smiled serenely, leaning up to kiss the underside of Crowley’s jaw. He then gently eased the demon from his lap and rose from the chair, an awkwardness in his movements  that was most likely due to the stiffness between his legs. He slowly walked to the door to lock it.

“I could use magic!” Crowley called out. There were times when Aziraphale’s need to do things the human way were just annoying. This was one of those times.

“ They’re right outside the shop.” The Angel said.

Crowley did not even have to ask who the other was talking about. He let out a loud groan and pulled himself from the sofa. “For  _ somebodies  _ sake, can we get one day’s peace!?” he staggered to the window where the Angel was. He looked out to see Meredith and James talking. “They’re talking, it’s fine Angel, we can close up the shop and pretend we didn’t see them.” he gestured back to the sofa that was so warm, so inviting, and just the right angle to bend him over.

Aziraphale smiled and made a gesture with his hand, Crowley felt the magic, but could not see what the other had down. When he moved to ask, Aziraphale pointed outside to the lamp post. Crowley noticed the mistletoe and looked at the other with a raised brow.

“Is this how we’re spending our evening, come on Angel, look at the couch.” he gestured wildly to the sofa.

“She’s trying to kiss him.” 

Crowley’s eyes, which were not covered by his glasses, widened and he looked out of the window, he noticed the Angel making to flee and the sad expression it caused his own Angel to have. With a click of his fingers the angel outside fell into his demon counterpart… and from what he could see, neither had a problem with the chain of events.

“ That was very kind of you Crowley.” Aziraphale smiled beautifully before something changed in his expression. “ _ Now, _ ” his voice was low. “get undressed and wait for me on the sofa, there’s a good boy.”

Crowley’s blood rushed south and he was not sure he could remember  ever moving as fast as he did in that moment.

Aziraphale chuckled. “Oh Crowley.”


	6. Something a little different

X Something a little different X

 

Meredith snuggled into her day bed. She curled in a way that was much like her cat-self and buried her face in her pillows. She loved her day bed, it was one of her favourite things about the human world, so soft, so warm, and so comfortable! She glanced over at her cat clock and noticed that it was seven to nine, James would be coming at ten and the two were going to be spending a day going for a drive to the countryside so that James could find new sights to draw.

A smile tugged at her face as she thought about the Angel. He was worming his way to being her favourite thing about earth. She looked forward to their days in the cafe, walks in the park, and annoying him- she liked the little tick he got in the corner of his right eye when she was being especially irritating to him. She also enjoyed _what else_ they did. She rolled onto her back and stretched out. It had been six months since Christmas and she and James had maintained their kissing, and even, on occasion, held hands. She knew that he had _made the effort,_ and had felt that effort while they kissed, but that’s as far as it went. She knew, mechanically how it worked, she was a Demon, they needed to know, but she had not yet done anything, much to her chargrin.

She frowned, she really  _wanted_ to do something with, or to, the Angel. She wondered, briefly if it was some sort of kink thing, because of him being an Angel, but that didn’t feel right- she couldn’t picture herself wanted to tempt an Angel into bed, it just wasn’t her, nor was it something that was really put out there to do. Her bosses would prefer she tempted humans into bed than Angels- less risk of  _dying_ from some mix of their fluids or something.

Which raised more questions, in her opinion. Crowley and Aziraphale seemed to have  _no_ problems engaging sexually and from what she had experienced from James, she could kiss him perfectly well without being smited. This troubled and perplexed her, was it just paranoia and there was absolutely nothing dangerous about coupling with an Angel, or had whatever happened to Crowle y started to happen to her? Was she becoming immune to  holy powers herself?

“It’s way to early and I am nowhere near drunk enough for this deep philosophical thinking...” she groaned to herself and flung an arm over her eyes. Were she human, a headache would have set in by now. She clicked her fingers and her radio turned on. She then rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling as the radio poured music into her day.

 

_The sword of Damocles is hanging over my head~_

 

She felt a smile tug at her lips, she liked _The Rocky Horror,_ as far as human films went, she quite enjoyed this one. She hoped to see it on the stage one day. Her hips wriggled from side to side as she sang along to the tune. 

“And I’ve got the feeling someone’s gonna be cutting the thread.” she pulled herself up to sit, her shoulders began moving with her hips and she moved in a way that could be considered dancing, it was quite uncoordinated though, much the way Demons dance. 

“Oh, woe is me, my life is a misery!” her mouth moved widely and her face was expressive as she sang. She was a few notes away from standing in her movements. “Oh, can’t you see, that I’m-” she cut off at the sound of her doorbell ringing. She clicked her radio off and headed to the door, she noted that it was only nine thirty, James was early for a change. She opened the door with a smile, only for her smile to fade as she took in the sight of her guest. 

“D-Duke Hastur.” she jumped back and gave him a salute. It was then that she noticed that she was in her underwear. Lovely. A click of her fingers and she was suddenly in a pair of black jeans and a tight fitting black top.

Hastur glared at her. Not that he knew any other expression. “ _Expecting_ someone else Meredith?”  his voice was rough as always and his glare seemed to harden.

“Me?” Meredith reached up and twirled some of her long black hair around a finger. “No sir.” she lied, the lie fell easy from her lips, a perk of being a demon.

H astur pushed past her and strutted into her apartment. She frowned and closed the door behind her. “Do come in.” she murmured and followed after him. She watched as he looked around her apartment, taking everything in with a childlike curiosity, mixed with irritation. 

He lifted a coffee mug, her coffee mug. It was a black mug with some little cat ears and a tail as the handle, it had been a gift from James a few weeks earlier.  He glared at the ceramic object and placed it back on the bench. “It smells in here…” his eyes narrowed and he looked around her room.

_Shit_ . He could probably smell James. “Mr. Crane upstairs is a… devout catholic,” she pointed to the ceiling and shrugged. “Sometimes when I open the window his scent comes down, I’ve been pestering him for ages now, he’ll be one of ours soon.”  It wasn’t a lie, there was a Mr. Crane above her, devout catholic he was  _not_ .

H astur let out a sound, whether or not he believed her was unknown. He walked into her kitchenette and picked up one of the lemon meringues that she had made yesterday.  She winced inwardly, this was great, he was touching her food, he was going to catch her out. She was cooking and eating and doing everything and anything,  _other_ than the job that she was supposed to be doing.

“What have you discovered?” he asked. He squeezed some of the meringue and glared as it crumbled onto his glove. He then raised it to his nose to sniff. He was in a body so his frog was not visible, but she had a feeling that, if it were, it would have been glaring at her.

“That…” she reached back to twirl more hair. A nervous habit she hadn’t known that she had. “They dance, they… eat human food, they like to spend time in their bookshop and they’re pretty intimate with each other- they seem.. immune? To each other?” he looked unimpressed with her. “I’ve been watching them every day and, I’ve tried what they try- but nothing seems to be changing.” she was not about to tell him that she was able to touch James with no consequences. 

H e looked, if possible, even more unimpressed with her than he had before. “What do you mean, nothing?” he hissed.

She jumped, he sounded  _pissed_ . “I watch them every day sir, I’ve heard nothing of what could have caused their  _conditions_ .”

He crushed what was left of the meringue in his hand and pinned her with his dark eyes. “I’m going with you.”

_Perhaps Hastur really was so angry with her progress that he saw fit to join her and observations. Perhaps the Duke of hell was lonely after the death of Ligur… it was most probably his anger, after all Duke Hastur was mostly built of anger and aggression._

 

X

 

_I’m going with you_ . Meredith frowned. Those words were how she ended up in her current predicament. Those words, were how she ended up walking with Hastur, down a Soho street, taking him to her cafe. She watched as he observed the street, she was curious about how he was looking at everything, taking it in. she knew that he had been to Earth before, multiple times, but he still seemed to not know anything about the place.  She watched him stop to look at a computer shop,  he seemed so fascinated by them. She also took in how the humans around would give him a wide berth- this she understood, one just had to look at Hastur to understand, also the smell didn’t help. 

He turned his attention back to her and scowled- the scowling probably didn’t help either, she thought wryly. She gestured for him to follow her and after a few moments she was leading him into the cafe. As she opened the door for him, she hoped that James did not come looking for her here, that was the  _last_ thing that she needed.

“Good morning!” she inwardly groaned at the sound of the waitresses voice. She looked over to see the blonde walking to them, her short curls bouncing against her shoulders with her bouncing step. “You’re usual?” she pulled her notepad out of the pocket of her pink dress. “...and for your …. _friend?_ ” she glanced at Hastur with a raised brow.

Meredith smiled weakly and turned to the Duke of Hell. “Would you like to try something?”

“You actually consume the food here?” he looked at her through the corner of his eyes briefly before turning his attention back to the waitress. “What do you get out of it?”

Meredith moved to answer but the waitress beat her to it. “Well, I don’t know what  _she_ gets out of it, but I get a warm belly and the energy to deal with the day and whatever it brings.”  she crossed her arms and smiled at the man before her, Meredith prayed to somebody that Hastur did not decide to simply melt her in the middle of the shop. 

Hastur eyed briefly before shrugging. “I’ll uhh, try the coffee.” 

The waitress smiled at him. “I’m pretty good at guessing what people like, how about I make you up something special?” she tilted her hips and jotted something on her notepad. 

“Sure, fine, whatever.” 

M eredith watched the waitress turn to go make their drinks. She then gestured for Hastur to follow him to a booth, not  _their_ booth though. She was not going to take him ther e , it was  _their_ spot, not for Hastur to invade.  She slid into the booth and Hastur slid into the seat across from her. His eyes glanced around the cafe, taking in the shop and it contents. 

“How do you watch Crowley from here?” he asked, his eyes not moving from his surroundings. 

“Well I,” she gestured to the window. “I watch through the window, most of the time they’re in the bookshop anyway.” she glanced at the bookshop in question, only to be met with the sight of a large moving truck parked in front of it. 

She tilted her head in confusion.

“How do you watch when there’s a large truck in front of it?” there was an almost, sassy(?), tone to Hastur’s voice. 

 

X

 

“Aziraphale,” Crowley whined as he watched the Angel in question pack books into boxes. “you know that we could just miracle _everything_ into the cottage, we really don’t need to do this the human way.” he slumped against a bookshop and crossed his arms. 

“But this is more fun.” Aziraphale’s voice, cheerful as ever, chimed back. He was currently kneeling on the floor beside boxes and books and was sorting them into specific boxes to make unpacking them easier. “You don’t have to watch, you can go for a drive, or take a nap if you like?” 

Crowley made a noise, a nap did sound nice. He glanced out the window, the moving truck should be here soon, to collect some of Aziraphale’s books. His things had been moved already and he was staying at the bookshop while they moved, he had a feeling though, that Aziraphale’s things would take the longest to move.  His eyes scanned the people as they walked past the shop, he would miss being here, the shop had been such a n important part of his  time on Earth , but he would be lying if he said that he wasn’t looking forward to living with Aziraphale in their cottage. 

He could hardly wait to  start working on his garden.

His eyes widened. 

It couldn’t be. 

He bolted to another window to get a closer look.  _It was_ . But what was he doing with  _her_ ? “Oi, Azirphale!” he called out a nd when the Angel hummed in response he continued. “It’s Hastur!” he watched with paranoid curiosity as the Duke of Hell inspected the computer shop. 

Azir a phal e ,  curiosity piqued, pulled himself  from the floor and moved to stand beside Crowley. His eyes had no trouble finding the Duke, especially considering how much the pale demon stood out, though, his eyes would not have had any trouble finding him anyway.

“Oh my. Whatever is he doing here?”

“Oh I don’t know, perhaps come to have a cup of tea and some pfeffernusse?”

“...I _like_ pfeffernusse.”

“Angel!”

“Well Crowley, what do you expect?” he sent the demon a look before gesturing back to Hastur who was now following his stalker towards the cafe. “Perhaps they’re going out to lunch?”

Crowley wanted to laugh. He really did. “Oh yes Angel, because Hastur’s  _really_ the kind of Demon you would want to have lunch with- does he eat?” Crowley’s eyebrows furrowed, he could not remember ever seeing Hastur consume human food, it just wasn’t his thing. “...he can’t have, I mean, not with me at least...”

“Well he may well be now.” Aziraphale replied smugly. 

Crowley looked up to see the Duke walking into the cafe. “It must be a meeting or something, strange not to just do it in Hell though.” Crowley crossed his arms and looked into the cafe. He had trouble, considering the angles of the cafe and the bookshop, but he could make out Hastur standing with the other demon while they talked to someone. “They’re talking to someone...” he murmured. “I think it’s a report… or they’re coming back for us.”

Aziraphale watched as the moving truck pulled in out the front of the shop. “Well then, I suggest we move hastily.”

Crowley looked at Aziraphale who was making his way back to packing. He then moved to another part of the shop so that he could continue to watch the cafe across the street. He could see Hastur and his stalker sitting in one of the booths. Then something red caught his attention. It was the Moke.

Crowley was an idea’s person. As such, were he in a cartoon, in that moment a little light bulb that was not attached to any source of power would appear above his head. Seeing Hastur had put him on edge, but seeing the Angel arrive at the shop on his own gave him an idea. 

“This could work..” he said softly, before making his move to the door.

“Be careful Dear.” Aziraphale looked up at him. “Shall I come with you?”

Crowley shook his head. “Nah,  I’ll be fine.”

“Be careful.” he heard the angel say as he left the shop.

 

X

 

J ames was irritated, and not at all worried. He had turned up to Meredith’s flat, only to be left standing outside for twenty minutes.  _Twenty_ . Then when he had entered- broken into- her apartment, he had found that she wasn’t there. At first he had thought it was some kind of prank, she was always pulling something, but there was no one there and there was no signs of a trap or one of her silly pranks. 

So now, here he was driving to the cafe to brood/sulk/look for Meredith so that he could have some  _choice_ words with her. He slowed down as some pedestrians crossed without looking, his lips twitched, if Meredith were there she would have made one of them fall or have bad luck with the toilet for the rest of the day, or some equally childish. 

Once the pedestrians were out of the way he continued driving until he was at the cafe. He parked the car close by and climbed out of the vehicle. It was then he noticed Meredith sitting in one of the booths and she was not alone. He frowned and tilted his head. His dark eyes narrowed in confusion as he scanned the pale male figure, he was not sure who it was, but they looked dangerous- possible one of her higher ups? Perhaps  this was why she was not at her apartment?  For something like this he could understand perfectly, though  _why_ would she take him to their cafe was beyond him.

“Hey Stalker.” James jumped and looked around.

“Here!” his eyes flickered to a pale hand waving to him from an alley beside the cafe, possibly used for deliveries. He raised a brow and slowly, and carefully stepped to the alley.

“Gee I’m not going to do anything to you.” Crowley shook his head as James stepped into the alley.

J ames’ eyes widened, what could the demon possibly want with him. “What do you want Demon?” he snapped with a frown and a cross of his arms. He looked every inch the haughty Angel that he was.

Crowley resisted the urge to snort, he did however, roll his eyes from behind his glasses. “Relax, you see that demon in there right?” he waited for the Angel to nod, which he did eventually. “Well, how do you feel about doing some stalking- you know, someone other than me?” he leaned against the brick wall with a raised brow.

James tilted his head and tapped his fingers against his arm. He seemed to be in thought. “What…” he eventually said. “What do you propose?”

 

X

 

Meredith stared at the baked goods window at the cash register she was eyeing that red velvet cake, her stomach badgered her for the tasty treat. She glanced quickly at Hastur who was glaring at the moving truck with a loathing only he could manage. Like lurking, Hastur was very good at glaring, and staring and seething, all things that he was currently doing. 

At the sound of the cafe door’s jingle she looked up. Her eyes widened at a sight that she wasn’t sure that she was seeing. It was James, in his usual white clothing, wearing a, rather large, red and black snake. She blinked. That couldn’t be who she thought it was. Could it? She inwardly shook her head, there was no way that James was stupid enough to come into the cafe while Hastur was there, and he  _certainly_ wasn’t stupid enough to walk around with  Crowley wrapped around his shoulders… was he?

Her eyes locked with James’ and he nodded fractionally before moving to a booth in the corner, a little far away from them, but close enough to listen in on them. She watched as the snake, Crowley, sniffed the air with his tongue. She then glanced back at Hastur whose attention was on the van, she took a quick glace in that direction and noticed that Aziraphale seemed to be having an animated conversation with the vans driver.

She slowly slid from the booth. “I’m going to get some cake, would you like some Duke Hastur?” 

He glared at her briefly before looking back at the Angel. “ I’ve never eaten cake.”

“I’ll, uhh, get you some.” she did not wait for his response before hurrying to the register, which was close to where James was sitting. “What are you doing?” she hissed under her breath while looking over the cakes. “And why are you wearing the snake? you’ll draw attention to yourself!”

J ames’ lips tightened. “What are you doing here?”

Meredith narrowed her eyes. “I’m giving my report- Hastur wants to observe what I do all day.”

The snake pulled a face.

“We’re _not_ stalkers.” James snapped quietly to the serpent on his shoulders.

“Well you’re watching Hastur and I.” Meredith hissed before asking a waitress for two slices of red velvet cake. “so you’re voyeurs at best.”

The snake moved suddenly, his attention focused on the direction of Hastur. 

Meredith turned to look over and was met with the sight of their waitress sitting with Hastur in the booth, they seemed to be.. talking? Her brows rose incredulously, she hoped that Hastur didn’t publicly kill her, they  _really_ did not need that kind of attention. Though the waitress seemed to be… smiling at him?

“Excuse me miss.” Meredith looked down to see a young blonde girl. “Are you waiting? I want to get some cake?” 

Meredith moved aside for the girl and continued to stare at the couple in the booth, she hoped that her slices came soon, she really needed to get back to the booth. Not because she  _cared_ about the waitress, but she enjoyed the little irritations she gave her daily and… she just liked fucking around with the waitress and would rather she did not find herself without a tongue today.

“Sir, I like your snake,” the blonde girl said holding her cake in her hands. “he’s very beautiful.” 

The snake, Crowley, seemed to beam at the praise and slid close to the girl and allowed her to pat him lightly. “Beautiful snake.” the girl said before going back to her table.

“You enjoy praise, don’t you?” James said bluntly. “Don’t let it get to your head-” he jumped as Crowley hissed at him.

Meredith received her cake and clutched the little plates tightly. “Well, I’d better save the waitress.” she headed back to the table and was shocked to see Hastur… smiling? No, he was smirking, which was different to smiling. Hastur did not smile. The waitress seemed animated as well, she was talking, not loudly, but not quietly either.

“No Hastur!” she pushed his arm lightly and Meredith froze. “Water torture over cockle shells!”

….what?

“And what makes you say that?” Hastur replied as he reached for his coffee. He inhaled the beverage before slowly trying it. He looked to the side as it sat in his mouth before swallowing it. He made no comment to it’s taste but he took another sip.

Her red lips curled up in a smile. “You like the taste, don’t you?” when he said nothing, she continued. “Water torture is worse because it’s psychological damage- not physical.”

Hastur rolled his eyes and Meredith felt light headed, as though she were no longer on the physical plain but some strange hallucination. She placed the plates down on the table so that she did not drop them, the two at the table did not notice her.

“Think of the ways of physical pain, Elizabeth, the non ending sting of the shells, getting tighter, but not stopping, the body can endure the pain for hours, bringing out all kinds of pain. Water torture is a wonderful, lengthy process but other tortures are more physical, personal, painful. The cries of pain, a melody to the creator.”

_Elizabeth?_ Meredith blanched, she had known the waitress for over two years and not once had she learned the woman’s name. How had Hastur managed to get it out of her in a few minutes? And  _how_ had the two ended up discussing torture?

“I just think that psychological torture is more effective, normal torture is fine, painful, and gets you what you want in the end- by damaging a persons mind?” she leaned forward, her fingers locking as she rested them against the table. “Play a person’s mind and it stays forever, they’ll think about it for every second of their lives, every decision, every movement, everything they do becomes based on that damage.”

“And you’re studying psychology?” he asked before drinking more of his coffee.

Meredith looked between the two.  _What the fuck had she missed?_

“Meredith, sit down.” Hastur snapped without looking at her.

Meredith jumped and assessed where she would sit, she eventually settled beside the waitress, Elizabeth. From this spot she was able to watch James and Crowley as well. The two were watching them with rapt interest, she understood why, this was just strange. She reached for her cake and spooned some into her mouth, she looked over to James whose eyes were flicking between herself and Hastur.

“I’m just saying, cut off a mans legs, and he’ll learn to walk with his hands, destroy a man’s mind, that’s it.” she heard Elizabeth say, she jumped, what had she missed this time?

“There are some creative ways of cutting off legs.” came Hastur’s reply.

He wasn’t wrong. Meredith agreed, she had seen some of those creative ways in hell.

“I saw a documentary video thing where they burnt or cut off parts with hot blades.”

“Lingering blisters, effective, lasting damage.” Hastur shrugged.

“How do you feel about oubliette’s?” Elizabeth enquired, leaning closer to him. She brushed some hair behind her ears and tilted her head, her green eyes glittering. 

Meredith glanced at the table and noted that the waitress had gotten a drink for Hastur, but had failed to bring her one. She narrowed her eyes and was half tempted to cause something  _unfortunate_ to happen to the woman. But, she supposed, that talking to Hastur was probably one of the worst things that could happen to someone in that day, she chose to ignore the fact that Elizabeth seemed to be  _enjoying the conversation_ .

Slowly she rose and headed back to the register to order a coffee. She glanced at Crowley and James who seemed to be watching the scene unfold with bewilderment similar to hers. She jumped as a sound came from Hastur. It was not a sound that she would associate with him and it was also not a sound that she would ever want to hear from him and now that she had, she never wanted to hear it again. Laughter. She hastily snatched her drink from her server and jolted back to the table.

“You sound as though you speak from experience.” She heard Hastur say as she arrived back at the table. 

E lizabeth looked down at her fingers resting on the table, her eyes glazed over as though she weren’t really there anymore. “I had a friend once…” she said quietly. “He was truly wonderful, creative funny...” her lips twitched into the ghost of a smile. “...he always knew how to make me smile.”

Meredith heard a noise and glanced behind  Hastur to see that Crowley was watching them intently, seemingly oblivious, or ignoring the stares from the others in the shop at the sight of him.  She looked back at Elizabeth and Hastur to try to not draw attention to the Angel and Demon behind them.

“...I fucked up, did something that I shouldn’t have and he… he stepped in, he took my punishment for me, my sin...” she glanced at Hastur whose hand twitched around the mug. “..and now he can’t remember me, my own special punishment. So yes, I have a little experience in torture, and the pain.” she pulled herself from the chair. “I’m terribly sorry,” she smiled. “I’ve wasted your time, I’ll let you enjoy your coffee.” 

Meredith moved out of the booth so that Elizabeth could climb out. 

“It was nice talking to you Hastur.” she smiled at him before walking off to tend to other customers.

“Well that was something...” Meredith said quietly as she slid back into the booth.

Hastur made a noise in response. His eyes shifted to the van, which was still parked out the front of the shop, Aziraphale had apparently gone back inside though. “Do you ever actually see them?” he snapped.

“Usually.” Meredith replied with a frown.

 

X

 

It was some four hours later when Hastur finally chose to leave her, though he had told her that he would be back and that they would be finding the answer to their problem, or he would kill her. Which was incentive enough for her.  After he was long gone she rose and walked over to James who was finishing his cup of tea, snake still wrapped around him.

“Shall we go?” she said quietly. She was tired and was in a big need of a nap.

James nodded and pulled himself out of his chair, he clutched the snake around him and followed after Meredith out of the shop.  While they were walking Crowley inched his head towards the bookshop. James stared at him for some time before nodding and heading to the shop. Meredith followed after them, she felt something inside her pulse as the door to the shop was opened. Was this actually happening? Was Crowley actually letting them into the shop?

A s they walked through the door and heard the bell jingle she heard the voice of the Angle call out.

“We’re closed.”

Crowley slid from James and transformed into his usual form. “It’s me Angel.”

Aziraphale came scrambling from behind some bookshelves. “Crowley how did-” he cut himself off as he caught sight of Meredith and James. “Oh! Hello there!”  he clasped his hands in front of him and sent Crowley a look. 

“Relax.” Crowley waved him off as he walked to him. “Hastur’s joining their stalking squad.” he explained. 

“We’re not stalking you!” James blanched. 

“We technically are.” Meredith chimed then raised her hands defensively when he sent her a look.

“Right well,” Crowley folded his arms in front of him and leaned against the Angel beside him. “It’s late, is there anything you need? Or can we separate and go back to our stalker, stalk-ee relationship? Perhaps with less stalking?”

Meredith opened her mouth, she had so much she wanted to say, so much that she wanted to ask, but she found none of those words leave her mouth. Instead, her mouth seemed to be ignoring anything that she wanted to say. “Sleep does sound wonderful.”  her traitorous mouth said. She felt James’ eyes bore into her.

Crowley seemed pleased with her response. “Good! Well off you-”

“If you like.” Aziraphale interjected, stepping forward, causing Crowley to stumble. “Perhaps you would like to meet us for lunch some time, next week perhaps?”

Meredith blinked. “I, well… yes?”

James remained silent beside her but she felt him stiffen.

Aziraphale beamed and, ignoring Crowley’s spluttering ,  continued. “Wonderful, St. James’ park, Wednesday? For lunch?”

 

X

 

M eredith laid her head down on James’ lap. They were in her apartment, he was sitting on her day bed and she was curled up beside him. It had been a long day, she had no desire to spend as much time with Hastur again as she had today. She snuggled into the warmth of his lap, so much had happened today. She could not believe that she was going to be having lunch with the people that she had been watching for two years. Lunch!

She looked up at James who was sketching. He looked so relaxed while he sketched, his face softened and his eyes became gentle as he drew lines on the page.  She reached up and touched his cheek. He stopped drawing and leaned into the touch, his eyes moved down to look at her. Slowly, carefully, she pulled herself up to sit beside him. There eyes locked and she leaned forward, her lips brushed against his. 

“Would you like to take this further?” she asked before she could stop herself.

He smiled and kissed her again.

 

X

 

“Why did you invite them to tea Angel?” Crowley grumbled as he lifted the tartan blanket that covered Aziraphale’s bed. 

Aziraphale used magic to change into a pair of tartan pyjama’s. “We’re leaving soon Dear.” he slid into the bed beside the Demon. “I thought it would be nice to do something for them, before we leave.” he sent the demon beside him a look. “I saw you as your snake, wily serpent.”

Crowley grinned and leaned over, his lips brushed against the Angel’s shoulder. “Would you like to spend some time with this  _wily serpent_ ?”

Aziraphale smiled and reached to cup Crowley’s cheek. “ _Oh Crowley_ .” he leaned forward to kiss his snake.


	7. The Days Until the End: Thursday

The days Until the End

 

Thursday

 

Meredith snuggled her head down into the warm lap supporting it. A grin tugged at her lips as she felt the hands near her head twitch. She opened and eye and looked up at James who was seated perfectly still on the day bed, the Angel, for everything that he had done in his time on her, still had yet to perfect sleeping. In fact, the way he slept was almost hilarious, he would sit and stay completely still, his whole body rigid and he would say like that for however long he slept.

She looked up at his face, his glasses had been removed the night before during one of their _many_ rounds of athleticism. She tilted her head back to check the time on the cat clock. The cats eyes moving from side to side as the seconds ticked by. It was close to eleven, they had slept for most of the day, it didn't surprise her considering she the pair had spent _hours_ exploring each other.

She closed her eyes and snuggled closer to him, her naked feet snuggled into the pillows. Images from the night before flashed through her mind, it had been her first time exploring another being sexually, and from what she could tell, it had been the same for James. He had fumbled around with his fingers, not knowing what,  _or where,_ to touch. It had been thrilling to go through that with another person, the experience of  _learning_ what felt good, with herself and him, learning what to touch and how, and listening to the sounds that he made when something felt good.

She felt fingers run through her black locks and her smile widened. She nuzzled her cheek into the hand and pressed her lips into the palm. She felt the other hand slide from under her head and reach to stroke her other cheek. She opened her green eyes and found his dark ones staring back. She reached up and brushed his inky hair from his face.

“Good morning.” she said simply.

His eyes glanced at the clock briefly before looking back at her. “Good morning.” he rumbled, his head turning to kiss her wrist.

She pushed herself up to sit. The blanket slid onto the floor, exposing her naked flesh, the markings on her arms and thighs glittering as the sunlight touched them. She sat on her knees and turned to him, her arms reaching out to wind around him, her fingers sliding across his silky blue pyjamas- he apparently felt  _wrong_ sleeping naked, a fact which amused her greatly. She leaned forwards and pressed her lips against his, a grin taking her as he returned the gesture. She climbed onto his lap, her thighs resting on the outside of his, she rocked down and chuckled as he groaned. With a click of her fingers she felt him shiver as his clothing disappeared.

“Cold?” she chuckled against his lips as she moved against him slowly.

“You could help warm me up?” his reply came accompanied with a raised brow and cool fingers trailing down her sides.

She grinned and rolled her hips.

 

X

 

“What shall we do today?” Meredith asked as she made coffee in her kitchenette. She had since changed into a pair of jeans and a black singlet top.

“I suppose we have work to do.” James replied crossing his legs at the table. He had since changed into his usual white shirt and slacks. He reached over to the newspaper on the table and started to read through the pages.

Meredith frowned. Work. That  _was_ something that she needed to focus on. Hastur had made his displeasure known at how long it had been taking her. The problem was, she really did not  _care_ anymore. She liked Earth and what it had to offer, she liked spending time in the cafe, feeding the ducks, eating foods, and spending time with James. Earth was,  _is_ , more of a home to her than Hell was, and if she had a choice, she'd rather just stay here- who cared how Crowley and Aziraphale did it? Right now all she knew was that she certainly didn't. 

She glanced at James. She wondered if he felt the same way? Would he choose Earth over Heaven? He had slept with her so he had broken one of the cardinal rules, but would he feel the same way as her in this regard? She wasn't too sure. Then again, he had spent time  _drawing_ instead of doing his work. 

“What if we just lied?” she asked, not knowing how similar she was being to the one she had been tasked with 'stalking'. She watched him pause in his reading and put the paper down with a look. As his eyes pierced her she elaborated. “What if we just made up something that we did today? And go do something else?” she gestured with their hands to the window. “We could, you know, go out, do something and just _tell them_ that we did something else, they probably would not even notice.”

James's lips thinned, he folded the newspaper and placed it on the table. “I trust that you will not suggest that to me again.” he folded his hands in his lap. “I have a job to do, as do you-” he was cut off as Meredith let out a bark of a laugh.

“ _Oh?_ And last night?” she pulled the kettle away from the stove-top as it let out a whine. “What was that? Cause it most definitely did _not_ feel like work to me!” her voice was getting louder as new emotions took her body. This was certainly nothing like anything that she had ever felt before. 

Something in his eyes flashed and he pulled himself up to stand. “That is completely different and you know it!”

Rage, annoyance, frustration and something else flashed through her body. “You silly Angel!” she clenched her fists and stepped out of the kitchen towards him. “We  _slept_ together, we fucked, do you really think that Heaven will want anything to do with you if they find out! We don't have to do our jobs, there's no bloody point anymore!” 

He glared. “No point? Well I see how a job would not be important to a  _Demon_ but I have important things to do. Good day.” and with that said he was gone.

She let out a noise and grabbed the closest thing to her, which happened to be her cat mug, and flung it at the wall, as it shattered she let out a frustrated scream.

 

_Sadness, what she felt was sadness._

 

X

 

She felt Elizabeth watching her with sad eyes as she drank her fifteenth cup of coffee. She had yet to see James, which was probably for the best, considering that it had only been three hours and five magical restorations of her apartment since their fight. She finished her coffee and gestured to Elizabeth for another, she did not bother to look up to see if she would, she knew the waitress would.

She wished that the coffee was alcohol as it was passed to her, she used her magic to 'Irish' it, as the humans say. She lifted the beverage to her lips and readied herself to enjoy the bitter but smooth taste of the baileys and coffee, only to pause as the liquid sat in her mouth. There was no alcohol in the drink. She frowned and placed the mug down, she _knew_ that she had used her magic, had felt it. Someone must have changed it back, but who? She looked around, there didn't appear to be any magical beings in the cafe, it was a quiet day and the only other person that she could see was Elizabeth, and she was pretty sure that she wasn't an occult being.

She looked around outside at the empty street, apparently no one else was out either, perhaps the world was as miserable as she was? She took note of the moving van across the street, apparently not everyone was hiding away today. She wondered briefly why it was so empty today, it was Wednesday, and it wasn't like it was a particularly bad day outside or anything. She looked over to Elizabeth to ask for more. The blonde walked over to her with her arms folded in front of her.

“I can't give you anymore dear.” she said with a shake of her head. “You may want to murder your heart, but _I_ would rather not deal with your convulsing body.”

Meredith glared. “It's not like it's hard liquor or anything.”

“Be that as it may,” Elizabeth quipped. “I can get you a hot chocolate if you like, a milkshake? I'm going to have to cut you off the coffee.” at the sound of shops doorbell ringing she glanced over, her eyes seemed to brighten and a smile tugged the corner of her lips. “Good afternoon!” she touched Meredith's shoulder lightly before going off to greet the customer.

Meredith glanced out the window, Aziraphale seemed to be instructing some movers on how to carefully carry the boxes into the van- just how many books did he have? She looked back at Elizabeth, her eyes widening as she took in the sight of her sitting and chatting with Hastur, a pot of tea on the table between them.

She shook her head. Of all the things. Well, it wasn't as though she was going to get more coffee here, and the smell of Hastur was a little bit much, now that her body was starting to shake from the caffeine. Feeling more than a little bit woozy, she flushed the caffeine- and alcohol- from her system and quietly pulled herself from the chair. She had no desire to be anywhere near Hastur right now.

“Meredith.”

She froze. _Of course the world would not give her a reprieve._ She turned to Hastur and smiled. “Hello! How are you Hastur? Enjoying the lovely English weather?”

Hastur did not look impressed with her, though to be fair, Hastur hardly ever looked happy with anyone. “How are you progressing?” he reached for his cup of tea.

Elizabeth glanced between the two and quietly sipped her own cup.

“Oh just peachy.” Meredith replied, trying to keep the irritation from her voice. “I'm off to do some more investigative work.” she glanced at Elizabeth briefly before nodding at Hastur. “Good day, sir.” she turned and left.

Elizabeth turned and watched her retreating back. She frowned as she watched Meredith leave, as the door closed, she looked back at Hastur who was sipping his tea. “What's she like to work with?”

Hastur glanced up at her and took another sip. “She needs to take her work more seriously.” he said gruffly causing Elizabeth to giggle. He glared at her with a raised brow, causing her giggles to grow louder and harder.

“No offence love,” she waved at him. “but you strike me as a hard man to please!”

“Love?”

Elizabeth jumped. “J-just an expression.” she let out a sound and reached for her drink.

 

X

 

Meredith made a noise as she closed the door behind her. “Fucking Hastur.” she grumbled and stomped forwards, not even bothering to look for traffic, Satan help anything that got in her way today. Which happened sooner than expected as she found herself colliding with something solid. “Fucking fuck!” she snapped and staggered back.

“Are you alright dear girl?” she looked up, her green eyes meeting blue.

“I- well yes?” she stammered, stepping back to straighten herself. She tugged at her jacket and dusted herself off. “S-sorry, Aziraphale.”

He smiled warmly at her. “It's fine, no harm done.” he looked her up and down, and seemed to hesitate briefly before saying. “Would you like some tea Miss?”

She glanced back at the cafe, where Hastur seemed to be in a deep conversation with Elizabeth. Could she risk it? How would the Duke of Hell respond to her going in and having tea with an Angel? She glanced back at said Angel and felt indignation take her. She was so sick of everything and everyone! Everything she did was to make someone else happy, be it Beelzebub, Hastur or even _James._ She was so sick of it, she just wanted to run off somewhere and enjoy her life, enjoy Earth and everything it had to offer! She looked back up at the Angel. She was going to go have the offered tea, and she was going to damn well enjoy it!!

“You know what? I would absolutely _love_ some tea!”

Aziraphale grinned and lead her to the bookshop

 

X

 

“What are you smiling about?” Hastur asked gruffly as he looked at the woman preparing them more tea.

Elizabeth watched Meredith be led to the bookshop, her smile widening before she turned her attention back to Hastur. “Nothing, all is good, well as good as anything can be.” she brought over a fresh pot of tea to the table and sat down across from him.

“More tea?” she offered.

Hastur looked over at the bookshop briefly before looking back at her. He made a sound of affirmation before looking at the shop again, his dark eyes burning at the moving van. He knew something was happening, something was wrong- and not in the good, no, _bad_ way- he just needed to wait to find out, and he would, more effectively than Meredith as well.

Elizabeth poured him some more tea. “So... which place fucked up more, Sodom, Gomorrah, or Babylon?”

He felt his lips twitch.

 

X

 

“Now dear Girl,” Aziraphale said gently as he ushered her to the sofa's in the back room, the only part of the shop that was not in utter chaos from the moving. He guided her into the chair before tottering off to make some cocoa. “what is troubling you?” he called out from his little kitchenette.

“Oh...” Meredith gestured helplessly, her eyes scanning the room and the array of books covering the walls. It seemed like such a mess in there, it was a wonder that he was able to keep the books in the condition that they were, though she supposed that magic was probably involved. “Oh... nothing that you'd want to hear about, I'm sure...” her eyes scanned the walls and she jumped as she saw a giant black and red snake glaring at her.

“Crowley.” she hissed, an action he returned.

“Nonsense,” Aziraphale replied as he came back into the room carrying two steaming mugs. “I asked, didn't I? So I must want to hear about it.” he passed a mug to her before noticing her 'stare off' with Crowley. “Oh Crowley, stop giving the girl trouble, Dear.” There was an edge to his voice, whatever it was, it seemed to work as the snake stopped hissing almost instantly.

The Angel smiled and sat on the sofa opposite her, the snake residing on it instantly slid up his arm and coiled himself around the Angel. Aziraphale smiled at Crowley and stroked his head. “Now,” he said, his eyes moving from Crowley. “What is the problem?”

Meredith sipped at the coffee, her eyes slipped shut. It was yummy. “It's...” she went quiet, was this really something that she should be discussing with someone who was, for all intents and purposes, her enemy? That feeling of rage took her again, here was someone who cared enough to actually ask her what was bothering her? Seemed genuinely interested in her feelings, rather than just throw a tantrum and leave. But then... she looked down at her hands that were holding the mug, she couldn't... by rights she shouldn't be there, what Hell would do... what _Hastur_ would do to her if they found out about her... fraternising, colluding... whatever they wanted to call it.

She placed the mug down on the coffee table and pulled herself up to stand. She looked down at the blue and amber eyes staring up at her. “I'm sorry, I _need_ to go...” she rubbed at her arm. “Thank you for the cocoa..” with that said she turned and fled from the bookshop.

Aziraphale watched her retreating back with sad eyes. He felt Crowley detach from his body and transform beside him. “Well, I can see why you like her so much.” he said casually, his long fingers reached over to brush themselves through the Angel's blond locks. “She's just like you.”

Frowning, Aziraphale turned to him, confusion etched on his face. “Sorry?”

Crowley tilted his head to the other and with his spare hand he reached over to cup the Angel's jaw. “Always so worried about Heaven finding out about the arrangement, always worried about what would happen if your people found out,” he brushed his thumbs across the others lips, smiling as he felt them tremble lightly. “She's feeling the same way, you could see it all over her face.”

Aziraphale took the thumb into his mouth and sucked, smiling lightly as Crowley let out a small sound. “You were always there,” he said pulling away from the thumb. “You were so patient with me Dear.” he reached out to pull the other into his lap. “Thank you for waiting for me...” his hands moved to rest on Crowley's hips.

Crowley rocked his hips and leaned down to kiss the other's nose. “You know that I..” he made a noise, why did the Angel have to bring out the _sappiest_ in him? “I love you Angel.” he brushed his nose against Aziraphale's, his fingers running down the blond locks and sliding down the neck and coming to rest at the Angel's shoulders.

Aziraphale's fingers in Crowley's hips tightened and he leaned up to kiss the other. “I love you too Dear.” he shone brightly with his expression of love, he was so bright that Crowley had to close his eyes.

“Oh, sorry Dear.” Aziraphale dimmed himself with a blush as he realised what was happening. “Sometimes I just can't control myself.”

Crowley chuckled. “That's quite alright Angel.” he pushed his hips down and grinned a feral grin when the Angel gasped and thrust upwards in response. “Now, Aziraphale,” he said slowly as he continued to move his hips. “are we going to find out if this sofa is strong enough to be worth coming with us?”

Aziraphale looked up at him through lidded eyes. “I think,” he slid his hands to the Demons chest and started undoing the buttons. “I think that is a _grand_ idea Dear.”

 

_Their chuckles, among other sounds, filled the bookshop._

 

X

 

James was not happy, to be frank, he was right pissed off. First Meredith had gone and attempted what, at the time had felt like a temptation, but now felt like she had been trying to make a point, or just spend time with him. So he had felt like a bit of an arse, not that there was anything that he could do about it as he had had to go to Heaven and deal with Gabriel and his questioning. Then he got reprimanded for taking too long in finding out what he needed to know. So it was understandable that he would be pissed off.

He had spend hours, _hours,_ in heaven when all he really wanted was to go back to Earth and draw, possibly get some pizza with Meredith. Spending those hours in Heaven gave him an appreciation for Earth, Heaven was, too... well, it was too much like Heaven to want to spend any real amount of time there. He pulled the Moke into a space near the cafe and climbed out of his car.

He wondered how many caffeinated beverages Meredith had taken her frustrations out on, that is, if she was there, he wasn't even sure if she would be, considering that she hadn't been at her apartment or St. James' Park, or anywhere else that he could think of that he had visited. He heard someone make a sound of frustration as well as curse, he looked up and saw Meredith standing outside of the cafe. He wanted to say something to her but found himself unable, instead he watched as she stormed off and collided with Aziraphale.

He frowned and watched the scene unfold before Meredith was ushered into the shop. He moved closer to the shop and watched her get led to the back room of the shop where he couldn't see her. He frowned, was she... on friendly terms with them? When had that happened? He moved around the shops outside and tried to see if he could see into the back room, but he had no such luck.

“Mr. Fell keeps odd hours.” he turned to see a small blonde girl looking at him.

He glanced back at the shop. “That he does.”

The girl pointed to the moving van which was pulling away from the shop. “I think he's getting ready to leave soon, It makes me sad, he's so friendly.” she then stepped back from the shop. “But I'm happy cause Mr. Fell gets to be with his husband.”

James smiled. “They do love each other, don't they?” when he had first come to Earth he hadn't believed it, how could a Demon and Angel tolerate each other, let alone love... but since coming to Earth and experiencing what he had... Meredith... he, well he could certainly believe it now.

The girl nodded. “I want them to be happy.” her voice sounded older for some reason in that moment. “What about you, sir, are you happy?”

“I'm not very happy right now, no.” he shook his head.

“Why?” the girl tilted her head, her brown eyes questioning.

“Well I,” James hesitated, why was he discussing this with a child? “I, had a fight... with my friend...” As if summoned by his words, Meredith slammed the door to the shop open and went running down the street.

“Meredith!” James called out.

“Are you two fighting again?” the girl asked, crossing her arms. “You two need to talk to each other and stop being so silly.”

James blanched at the audacity of the little girl. How _dare_ she- he shook his head, it did not matter, especially since she was right. Of course she was right, they really did need to just sit down and talk, though he supposed that _been_ what they had both been trying to do this morning, but they were both too similar, too hot headed.

“Well?” The girl quipped, snapping him from his thoughts. “are you going to go and talk to her?” she grinned and watched James run to his Moke to follow after her.

“You're doing very well James.” the girl chuckled and headed for the cafe. She opened the door and was met with the sight of Elizabeth laughing and Hastur chuckling behind a mug. “Very well indeed.” she grinned.

 

X

 

Meredith threw a piece of bread to the ducks and chuckled as the swans dived in and practically attacked the ducks for the bread. She threw another piece and smiled as the ducks and swans continued to fight for baked goods. She watched as another piece was thrown into the pond and glanced beside her to see James standing their with a load of bread in his arms.

“The ducks are extra hungry today aren't they?” he held the loaf out to her.

She narrowed her eyes and him. “Yeah they are.”

He smiled at her. “Well then, it's good that I brought all of this bread.” he took a piece out an offered it to her.

She eyed him, then the piece, then back at him. Her hand slowly lifted to the offered bread, she took the piece slowly. “It is good isn't it?” she said in response to his words, she tossed the bread to them and chuckled when the birds went crazy.

He reached out an touched her hand. “I think it's good.” he wasn't talking about the bread.

“I think so too...” replied with a smile, her fingers locking with his.

He smiled and moved closer to her only to let out a shriek as she pushed at his chest, causing him to trip and fall into the water. Only, he was still holding his bread, which caused him to be attacked by the avian terrorists.

“Gah! Meredith! H-Help!?!” he called out as the ducks swarmed in on him.

Meredith threw her head back with a cackle.

 


	8. The Days Until the End: Friday and Saturday

The Days Until the End

 

Friday

 

Meredith threw some bread at the ducks and smiled as they feathered fiends lunged for it. She liked feeding the ducks, there was something almost therapeutic about watching them lung for their meal. She liked how _aggressive_ they were when they wanted something. She glanced over to a park bench that was not too far away from her, where two diplomats were having a discussion about 'trade deals'. She felt as though she should do something to one of them, if only for the sake of it. She closed her eyes and thought of how she could get creative.

“Don't bother,” a voice beside her said and she felt the bench move as a figure sat beside her. “they're going to have a much worse day than you could give them.”

She looked over to the figure beside her. Her eyes widened fractionally, it was Hastur, only he didn't seem to have that smell that usually accompanied him. “What do you mean?”

Hastur merely smiled in response but did not answer her question. He crossed his arms over his chest and gestured a hand at the ducks who were eyeing the bag that Meredith was holding. “Why do you... feed these creatures?”

“The ducks?” Meredith looked back at the ducks and threw them some bread, home made by herself, she was quite proud of herself for how _nice_ the loaf had come out. “I don't know, maybe I'm trying to summon some Eldritch god, perhaps Cthulhu?” 

His eyes flashed. “Wh _o or what_ is a Cthulhu?”

She giggled. “The ramblings of an old Human writer, nothing more- you'd probably like it though, maybe I should hunt you down some books?” she chuckled again as an image of Hastur sitting by the fire, book in lap, port swirling in hand and some little spectacles resting at the end of his nose. It was quite a hilarious thought.

He glared at her before looking back at the ducks. “Crowley seems to be getting ready to leave, where to, we need to find out.”

She shrugged. “What do you want me to do about it? Go up to them and ask 'excuse me good demon, perchance would you mind telling me where you and your angelic boyfriend are retiring to? If that's not too much trouble?'” she held her hands out questioningly, her voice sing-song and dripping with her sarcasm.

Hastur sent her a scathing glare. “You're starting to sound like him.”

Meredith chuckled and slouched back into the seat. “Perhaps it's this place.” she looked down at the ducks who were circling the area in a way that could almost be considered hunting tactics. Her fingers twitched around the bag in her hand and she pulled out a piece of bread. She grinned as she caught the bird's attention, she moved the bread to one side, they followed, then the other side, again they followed.

Hastur watched her tease the ducks with a curl in his lip.

 

_She's been here too long, he thought with a sneer._

 

X

 

“Come on Angel!” Crowley grumbled as he watched Aziraphale gently place more books into boxes. _They were going to be doing this forever_ at this rate. “Just use some magic, it'll be over so much more quicker! We could be living in the cottage right now!” he _almost_ stomped his foot.

“Dear, I just want to make sure that the books are kept safely, I'll be finished soon enough,” he pointed to the empty bookshelves. “I'm almost over half way done. We'll be drinking tea in your garden in no time.”

Crowley made a noise and crossed his arms in annoyance. “I'm just... I just want to be....” he made another sound and stomped towards the front of the shop. “I'm going to the cafe, want something?”

“They make a wonderful fruit tart.” the Angel called back.

“Fruit tart? Right, I'll get some of that hot chocolate too?”

“Oh that would be lovely Dear.”

Crowley smiled fondly before opening the door to the street. He crossed the road without looking, no one was going to hit him anyway, and headed for the cafe. Once inside, the first thing he noticed was the other Angel, his stalker, sitting at a table with the Archangel Michael and Gabriel. Poor thing appeared to be getting a lecture, if Gabriel's asshole expression was anything to go by. He walked up to the counter and waited for service, there seemed to be quite a lot of customers today- the wait staff were all hurrying around like headless chickens. He chuckled at  _that_ thought.

“Can I help you sir?” A waitress with blonde curly hair and green eyes asked as she walked to the cash register.

He stared at her for a few moments, this was the girl he kept seeing chatting with Hastur. He narrowed his eyes from behind his glasses, his lips twitched and he pretended to peruse the variety of foods. “Yeah, I'll have... two hot chocolates and a fruit tart, one of the big ones, to go.”

“I'll be just a minute, sorry if there's a wait, we're rather busy today.” she then scurried off to fulfill his order.

He turned his attention back to his stalker and his  _company._ Michael seemed to have noticed him and was doing her very best to avoid eye contact, he grinned and stuck his tongue out at her, his grin widened as she jumped and turned her attention back to Gabriel and his stalker, James, his brain provided. 

James looked as though he was getting a thorough 'chewing-out'. Gabriel seemed, pissed for a lack of a better term. From what Crowley could hear, which was pretty much everything, Gabriel was unimpressed(wasn't he always?) with how long it was taking for find out how the 'traitor' did what he did. Crowley almost felt sorry for his stalker, Gabriel was horrible.

He looked around the cafe and wondered if there was something that he could do to make Gabriel's day just that little bit more frustrating. He looked at the waitresses running around like crazy, perhaps he could use one of them for something? That was possible, all it would take was a little push. Perhaps that waitress with the large bowl of soup? Or even one with the pot of tea?

“Excuse me sir?” he turned to see his waitress standing at the counter with his order.

“Oh thank you.” he took the drinks and the box that contained his tart.

“You're welcome!” she smiled at him.

He raised his brows as a way to say 'good bye' and turned to leave the shop. He did not look back at the Angels at the table, he did however chuckle when he heard one of the waitresses let out a shriek and the sounds of ceramic falling came to his ears. He closed the door behind him just as the sound of Gabriel getting cross came flowing to his ears.

He crossed the street and went back into the shop, where the sight had not changed at all, his Angel was still sitting on the floor taking meticulous care to put his books into boxes. He walked over to the Angel and placed the cocoa on the floor beside him, as well as the box with the tart inside. He miracled up some spoons and opened the box. He grinned as Aziraphale turned his attention from the books and to the food.

“Oh this looks scrumptious darling.” Aziraphale scooped some onto the spoon and put it into his mouth. He moaned. _It was scrumptious._

“So Gabriel's across the street.” Crowley began casually.

Aziraphale made a noise and his lips curled downwards. “Is he Dear?”

Crowley sat on the floor and leaned back, he crossed his legs in front of him and tried a bite of the tart. He didn't enjoy food as much as Aziraphale but he did like the occasional little bit of food. “Yeah, he's paying on our stalker, apparently he's taking too long for old Gabriel.”

“Gabriel always was fussy, probably quite furious too after everything we've done.” Aziraphale ate some more of the tart. “You don't think he'll... do anything do you?”

“To us?” Crowley shrugged. “Dunno, he might, but then again he might also be waiting til they know how to 'kill us', probably the reason he's so mad.” Crowley chuckled and reached for his drink. “I had a waitress spill a pot of pumpkin soup on him.”

“You what?!” Aziraphale jumped, at first he seemed as though he was going to tell Crowley off, but then he let out a chuckle. “I suppose it was all over his suite, wasn't it?” his lips turned into a wryly grin which cause Crowley to let out a giggle.

“All over him and Michael!” this caused Aziraphale to let out another chuckle.

“Hey Angel,” Crowley began drawing the attention of the Angel. “How long has there been an Angel working at the shop across the street. Didn't recognise them the first time, but I did today.” he watched as Aziraphale frowned, his eyes narrowed and he processed the information that he had just been given to him.

“Who is it?” Aziraphale said quietly as he reached for his chocolate drink.

“Eiael.” Crowley replied evenly.

Aziraphale's frown deepened and he seemed to be searching through the recesses of his mind. “Angel with... dominion over occult sciences?” his brows furrowed and he took some of the tart. He smiled lightly at the taste. “Why would they send her to watch us?”

Crowley watched his Angel nibble on the spoon while he seemed lost in his thoughts. “Who knows, though she seemed pretty intent of pretending she didn't know me as a demon- Gabriel didn't talk to her either.”

“Do they think that perhaps we used some 'occult' way to...” Aziraphale shook his head. “...no that's silly, you can't use magic to...” he trailed off and took another bite of his food, his brows furrowed in a way that, in Crowley's opinion, was utterly adorable, not that he said that aloud, it would be a bit too much.

“She was pretty close with Hastur the other day, if that helps,” he offered with a hand gesture. “they were _laughing_ together.”

Aziraphale's frown deepened, if that were possible. “Well this is a conundrum.” he murmured, reaching for more tart.

“I don't think it really matters, we'll be out of here soon enough, at least, we would be if we just used magic.” Crowley's voice turned teasing.

_That_ got a chuckle out of the angel. “ _Crowley._ ” he laughed.

 

 

Saturday

 

“Hello James!” Meredith greeted with a smile as she opened the door to her apartment. “How'd your meeting with your boss go?” she gestured for him to come in.

James smiled wearily at her and entered the flat. “Gabriel was, Gabriel.” he shook his head. “You don't annoy Gabriel.” he stepped to her day bed and practically collapsed onto it. “He's 'displeased' and 'disappointed with my progress',” he waved his hand vaguely. “He gave me a reprimand note, 'time wasting' and other such nonsense.”

Meredith closed the door behind her and scurried into her kitchenette and put the kettle to boil. She then ran to her fridge and pulled out some jam and butter for the scones she had cooking in her oven. James seemed as though he needed them. “Gabriel seems like an ass,” she looked up at him while she pulled out some saucers and butter knives. “I don't how you angels can be so 'holier than thou', most of you lot are just asses.” at his expression she continued. “You're an ass too, don't deny it. You're a good one though.” she winked at him.

He made a sound of displeasure and snuggled back into the cushions. “You're lot aren't much better you know.” he pouted.

“I never said that they were.” she placated as she pulled out the scones. She grinned as she smelled the buttermilk- she could _not_ wait to have some. She put the tray down on the bench and opened the jam jar, she paused and studied the scene for a few moments. Something was missing, her eyes widened as she realised what it was. She ran back to her refrigerator for the can of whipped cream. “At least we don't pretend to be anything but what we are though.” she continued as she began spreading the jam on the scones.

“I need a brandy.” James grumbled, his nose twitching. “They smell good.” he smiled.

“They are gooooood~” she sang as she shook the can of cream. “and now they're perfect!” she grinned as she added the cream.

“Are you sharing them?” he asked watching as she placed some on the saucers.

“Maybe.” she smiled walking over to him. She passed him a plate and sat down beside him.

James took a bite and closed his eyes, he looked at peace. She watched him through the corner of he eyes and smiled. He was such a ass, but he was the good sort. She took a bite of her food and moved to snuggle on the daybed with him. It was as she was comfortable she heard the telltale scratching at her window. She let out a sound, of course he would come just as she was getting comfortable. She put her plate down and pulled herself up.

“Is that the cat?” James asked, not bothering to open his eyes.

“Mr. Edgar.” Meredith replied as she headed to the door. “He's hungry.” she opened the balcony door and let the grey cat inside. “Aren't you Eddie?”

The cat mewed at her while she pulled out a tin of food. “Yes, there's a good chubby boy.” she put the food in the bowl and smiled as the cat leaped at the opportunity to eat. She smiled at the cat and headed back to her spot. She saw James watching her with a side smile. “What?” she asked, sitting beside him.

“You're so soft, so _unbecoming_ of a Demon.” he patted her head and went back to his scone. 

“Laugh all you want, I like the chubby cat.” She ate some of her scone. “Call it, instinctual familiarity.” she shrugged and watched the cat eat to his hearts content.

“The cat likes you.” James said, when she made a sound he elaborated. “I can sense these sorts of things, whatever you do to that cat, he likes it, and you. I can 'feel his love'”

“That is the cheesiest load of bullshit that I have ever heard.” she laughed, but something in her chest pulsed at the thought. _Eddie liked her, possibly loved her._

 

_She would never say it out loud but, well, she felt the same for the chubby furball._

 

X

 

“They're still packing.” Meredith raised a brow as they pulled in near the cafe, giving them a view of the moving van parked out the front of it. Again. “You think they'd just use, you know, magic to get everything to wherever it is they're running off to.”

“If what I've heard about Aziraphale is correct.” James began as he pulled himself out of the moke. “He's pretty particular about his books, probably doesn't want to risk anything happening to them.”

Meredith smiled. “He does have a lot of books.” she had seen many of them when she had been inside the shop, and from what she had seen, he had packed away many more. She pulled herself out of the moke and and stretched her arms out. She groaned and flexed her arms. She wanted to go back home and nap, but instead, here she was, doing her  _work._

“I don't mean to alarm you Meredith,” James began quietly. “but your friend is in the cafe again, and he appears to be chatting with our waitress friend. He stared at the shop with a frown.

Meredith groaned. Hastur. Just lovely. “Well, we have two choices. You can watch our 'charges' on your own, and I can go into the cafe and deal with Hastur, or” she tilted her head to look back at him. “or we could skip out, go to lunch somewhere, maybe sushi, and have a day without any of it all?”

James looked at her, then back at Hastur, then back at her. He seemed to be having some sort of existential crisis. His silence went on for what felt like ages, and just when Meredith was about to tell him not to worry about it, his let out a sound, a groan that seemed to be a mixture of annoyance and frustration. He stomped his foot and climbed back into the moke.

“Get in Demon.” his voice was quiet, almost so quiet that she didn't hear him, but she had, and it made all the difference.

“Let's go asshole.” she grinned.

 

X

 

Hastur walked into the cafe. He sent a scowl to one of the servers who moved to ask him something. He didn't want to deal with them. He glanced around the room, the place was full, it usually was, but there was a table empty and he was going to sit there. He walked over and sat down, his aura filling the area with a cold feeling and the customers who were sitting in the booths beside him, suddenly found themselves leaving, even if they had not had anything to eat.

He glare over to the bookshop which, again, had a moving van out the front. He was sick of this, every time he came here, there was that stupid van out the front of the building. He needed to know what was the cause of their immunity, he needed to know what was happening, where they were going and, he just needed to know. He was sick of this. Sick of Crowley, he wanted nothing more than to end Crowley.

“Coffee or tea?” He looked up to see Elizabeth smiling at him.

“What?” he snapped.

“You're in a good mood today.” her voice was teasing and her eyes glittered. “Coffee or tea? I can make you either.”

He looked back a the cafe, his eyes narrowed as he saw Crowley paying a man by the shop front. “Coffee... with that stuff in it? What do you call it?” he did not look up at her.

“Cinnamon? I can do that!” with that said she turned and left to make his drink.

Hastur watched as Crowley sauntered back into the shop. His fingers twitched and he felt the urge to set something on fire- Crowley brought that out in him, he really did. He glanced over at the other servers who were eyeing him wearily and doing everything in their power to avoid coming near him. He smiled, it wouldn't take much to kill them all, not much at all.

“Here you go.” Elizabeth slid into the booth with him and passed him a large mug filled with his hot coffee.

He looked down at the mug then back up at Elizabeth. He lifted the mug and almost smiled at the smell of the cinnamon. Almost. He sipped the drink and went back to staring out of the window. He could not see inside the shop but he just  _knew_ that they were inside, plotting something. He  _needed_ to know, he  _had_ to know. 

“Having a bad day?” she tilted her head and folded her hands on the table in front of her. She heard a noise and looked over to see the other wait staff whispering about her and scowling at Hastur. She sent them a dirty look and went back to smiling at Hastur.

“You could say that.” he grumbled in response and sipped more of his coffee. He noticed her glance over and looked over himself. He saw the others glaring at them, he didn't care much, so he turned his attention away, he did however catch her glare at them before turning to him with a smile. He narrowed his eyes. Why?

“Well I don't know what I can do about the bad day, but I can try to make things better with the coffee.” she gestured to the drink, then winked at him.

He froze, and something inside him twitched. He had no idea how to respond to that. No one had ever  _winked_ at him before, let alone treat her with the kindness that she had. Something flashed in his mind as he thought about it. He glared as his skull began to hurt.

“You okay?” she asked, her eyes turning worried.

He blinked as though jolting out of a stupor and as his face turned back to it's glare, he caught sight of something. Something outside the window. That something was Meredith, and what appeared to be an Angel, inside a vehicle. Chatting... and.. now driving away together. He smiled, in a way that was menacing and screamed that something bad was going to happen to the receiver of that smile. And it would.

Elizabeth frowned and reached out to touch his wrist. “Hastur?” she said quietly.

She jumped as he let out a laugh, a dark laugh that was, to be frank, frightening, but she did not let go of his wrist, if anything her grip tightened. His laughter filled the shop and the remaining patrons found themselves leaving to get as far away from the crazy man as they could. Then suddenly he stopped and looked at the woman across from him with a cool look.

“I am _fine,_ Elizabeth, _just fine._ ”

 


	9. The Days Until the End: Through Dark Eyes

The Days Until the End

 

Through dark eyes

 

Sunday

 

I lurked in the shadows of a rooftop. I liked lurking, it was something that I was good at, I belonged in a place of lurking, it suited me more than sitting out in the bright sun. The sun reminded me of _up there_ , at least, I _think_ that it did, I could hardly remember what it had been like up there, bright, if memory serves... it doesn't matter, here and _now_ is what mattered, and here it was dark. The sun had yet to rise, but that did not hinder my vision of the inside of the apartment.

The apartment seemed to have a large amount of plants, another thing that annoyed me because it reminded me of Crowley and his _plant mister. (and Ligur)._ But the plants weren't important, though the implication that she had been amassing plant life instead of doing her job was certainly something for me to make a note of, and I would, but now, what my mind was stuck on, what I could not tear my eyes from was the sight lying on the bed.

It was a sight that was both enlightening and damning, both fascinating and damning. It made me want to tear into the apartment and set it alight, but I restrained myself, I was surprised at my own restraint. The sight of Meredith and an Angel  _cuddling_ should have been enough cause for me to storm into the apartment and destroy them both. However, I could not, I needed to see what was happening with my own eyes, I needed to know what was going on, I wanted enough evidence so that I could go to Beelzebub and have her put on trial and execute her myself. 

It was a shame just how much Beelzebub had bumped up paperwork and regulations since the incident with Crowley two years ago. A real shame. I suppose I could just destroy them and deal with the paperwork(as large and annoying as that would be) later, but every time I thought about doing it, I found myself held back by something, some force that fought against my own will and forced to continue to watch. It was quite frustrating. 

I watched as Meredith draped a leg around the Angel's middle and snuggled her head into the Angel's shoulder. I felt my lips curl in my disgust at their naked forms. She had,  _apparently_ , made an effort, the Angel as well, from what I could see. This was too much, it was an unholy, but not in the bad way, it was unholy in the  _bad_ way. Angels and Demons were not meant to consort in such a way, not matter what Crowley and his Angel would have others believe. 

I watched as the Angel stroked her hair, his long fingers threading through her dark, thick locks. This was too much, I felt my eyes twitch as magic poured from me. Something in her apartment exploded causing the two to jolt awake. I watched with mild amusement as Meredith scuttled around the apartment looking for something to put out the flames- she found some red instrument that looked like a tube with a hose and shot a white foam at the flaming kitchen appliance(it looked like something that was in the cafe, a drink maker perhaps?).

My mild amusement quickly turned into disgust as the Angel seemed to use a miracle to clean up the mess and restore the appliance to it's original state. Fucking Angels and their stupid desires to help everyone. I watched them look around the apartment as though searching for something- probably the source of that little issue, me- they looked out their window and in my direction, they couldn't see me, not in my current form. 

It took them some time to calm down and stop their search for whatever had caused the fire and soon enough Meredith was using a, fuck what was that thing called, a  _frying pan_ to make eggs for them.  _Eggs_ . Fucking eggs! I had just set fire to their kitchen and now they were having eggs and fucking coffee together! I wanted to start another fire, perhaps flood the apartment with locusts or something equally annoying, maybe fleas, yes fleas would really just piss Meredith off. 

A chuckle, which sounded like a caw, escaped my beak and I went back to watching them.

 

X

 

Since Meredith would rather gallivant off with her Angel, it was apparently  _my_ job now to watch Crowley and his boyfriend. I was currently in the shape of a snail and was sliding slowly across the window, watching the two within. They were currently drinking wine while the Angel packed away books.  _How sweet._ Crowley seemed to be teasing the Angel about something, they were laughing together. It made me sick. 

Being a snail, the ability to do things with my eyes was limited, sure I could see all sorts of things which was great for my current position, however it meant that I was unable to properly express myself with the adequate facial gestures to go with how I was feeling. So when Crowley leaned over to kiss the Angel, I was unable to curl my face with my disgust. So instead I settled for sliding across the window to draw a rude word- it was childish, I know, but I had already tried to use magic on the building and the magic had just bounced off in a way that was both frustrating and amusing. Frustrating because I wanted that window to explode, amusing because the ricochet caused a man to fly into the road in front of a bus. 

This had lead me to believe that someone or  _something_ was coming between my attempts at causing problems for Crowley and Meredith. I am a paranoid individual, I know, however this was twice that I had been stopped by some unseen force, the first time when I had tried to do something to Meredith and this second time when I had tried to use magic to mess with the Angel's establishment. 

I looked at the street around me again, I had been routinely doing so to see it if I could see or find anyone that could be causing the issues with me, but so far I had been unable to do so. There just seemed to be humans walking up and down the street- but that did not mean that they were not there. I just had keep my attention focused and continue to look around. 

I turned my attention back to the bookshop. Crowley and his Angel had moved from the shop floor and were heading towards a room at the back of the building. I turned myself back into my regular form and walked away from the bookshop. There was no sense in continuing to watch through a window if I was unable to see anything. I crossed my arms and thought of my next move, I could wait here until they resurfaced, but from what I had seen, the two looked as though they could be a while and I  _really_ did not need to be thinking about, or seeing it.

There was also Meredith. I could go back to watching her, which I would be doing anyway, but I had no real desire to at this current moment. I had spent hours outside of her apartment and the only thing I had learned so far about the traitor was that she enjoyed back rubs, cooking and being drawn by the Angel. At least I had a reserve of information to give Beelzebub when I went to give them the report. 

I found myself walking into the cafe that had become some warped  _home base_ of sorts. I find it strange that this place seemed to be where all of the Angels and Demons had been meeting of late. Meredith and her Angel seemed to have taken a real liking to the place. I didn't understand it, but somehow even I felt drawn to the place. I wondered if it had something to do with the coffee beverage that they served there. It was certainly enjoyable enough, at least the ones that Elizabeth brewed tasted good enough. 

I sat in the seat of my regular booth- that sounded odd to me, a  _regular_ booth, why was that something that happened to me? When did I become so accustomed to this place that I used words such as 'regular' in regards to this building. That should have bothered me, and it did. I was a Demon, I did not need places like this, my goal was to tempt humans for my lord Satan and instead I was sitting around and drinking coffee and trying these amazing little orange filled- I let out an annoyed growl and glared at the bookshop across the street. I was going  _native_ . I needed to find out Crowley's secret and deal with Meredith, then leave this place and only come back to play with the humans.

I heard the familiar clicking of footsteps from behind me and turned my head to see Elizabeth heading towards me. She smiled at me as she caught my eye. Why did she constantly smile at me? It made no sense to me, this human, apparently had no qualms in sitting with me and bringing me drinks. The last human that I had had dealings with, W _arlock_ , had complained about my appearance and said that I....  _smelt of poop_ .

“What would you like today Hastur?” Elizabeth smiled, her green eyes seemed to shine light stars.

I frowned at her, I wonder what it was that made her smile at me the way that she did. I did not understand a lot of things about this place, Earth, but this was one of the main ones at the moment. Why was a human being so caring, so  _good_ to me. I wanted to burn her, hurt her, do something to her, anything to remove that wonderful smile.  _Go die_ . I wanted to say. “Coffee... and a sweet roll.” came out instead. 

Her smile seemed to widen. “Sure love, I'll be right back.” and with that she tottered off to get my drink.

_Love._ She keeps calling me that. My understanding of humans was limited but from what I did know, love was a term of endearment that was only used between lovers. But that did not make any sense, why would Elizabeth call me that? We were nothing of the sort and yet she continued to call me such. Perhaps there had been some change in the use of the word? It had been a long time since I had bothered to study human colloquialisms.

“Here.” she placed a plate and a mug on the table with a clink before sliding into the seat across from me. 

I looked down at the food and drink before me. The foods that she gave me always seemed to look better than the ones on display, if she weren't human I would believe it to be some sort of miracle in place, but somehow this human managed to surprise me. I did not thank her, why would I? I was a demon, I wasn't about to go around thanking humans, goes against nature it does.

“Having a bad day Hastur?” Now _what_ would give her that idea? She smiled at my glare and let out a chuckle. _A chuckle._ Why was the human always chuckling at me? “You have a special glare for when your especially annoyed.” she elaborated.

Well huh. I had no idea, honestly, I thought I just had one expression for my irritation, apparently not. Why would she bother to remember that though? “You could say that Elizabeth.” and she could, she wasn't wrong. I picked up my sweet roll and took a bite. By Satan it was yum. I could understand why humans chose to consume so many of them, I certainly could. I pulled the roll away from my lips and licked the icing from my lips, it was then I noticed something that gave me pause. Elizabeth was watching me, more specifically my tongue. Now I might not have noticed this if I was not a Demon, but I was and as such I had no trouble at all in sensing the sin of lust. The faint trickle before it seemed to be suppressed, hidden away. 

Now  _that_ was interesting. 

“I know that you probably don't want to talk about it,” she looked down at her hands clasped on the table. “but I am always willing to lend an ear, and get you your coffee.” she finished with a giggle.

“Meredith has done something...” I said slowly. I don't even know what compelled me to talk with her, but I did, and had been doing for some time now. “Stupid girl, couldn't just do her job.” Talking about her made me want to go to her apartment and throttle her, and her Angel too.

I had some more of my sweet roll and some coffee. Damn Meredith, damn Crowley and damn their Angels too. 

“Meredith does give you a lot of trouble, doesn't she?” Elizabeth fiddled her fingers on the table, her eyes never leaving me. “You always seem so, annoyed when you talk with her. I..” she seemed to hesitate, I suddenly found my interest piqued. “I don't like seeing you like that.” I watched with rapt interest as a fascinating blush rose to her cheeks. 

Now what did she mean by that? “What?” I asked gruffly, giving voice to my inner thoughts. 

She pushed some of her golden curls behind her ear, her green eyes seemed to brighten and she looked away. “I mean,” she let out a sound that was almost a laugh and sounded completely adorable coming from her- ugh did I just think that? What the hell is wrong with me? “I like talking to you, okay?” she sounded exasperated, it caused me to smile.”I like sitting here, with you, just being with you, I like laughing with you, I don't like seeing you like this, especially knowing that  _she_ put you in this mood.”

“I like it when you're happy...” she finished quietly.

I felt something within me twitch and swell, I was unsure whether or not I liked it, what I did know was that her little blush had taken over her face and she was now beaming bright scarlet. 

 

_How interesting, almost as interesting as what she had to say._

 

X

 

Monday

 

I glared at Meredith from my position in the pond, she and her  _Angel_ had gone out to St. James' park to feed the ducks. At least I could watch them in a form that I was familiar with, I thought to myself as I flexed my toad legs. The ducks were slaves to the bread, I thought as I watched them. Or perhaps it was the park visitors who were the slaves, from what I had seen of the park, every person, or occult beings, who visited had brought bread as some kind of offering to the aquatic birds. 

I briefly had entertained the idea that the ducks were some kind of otherworldly beings, like gods, but quickly dismissed this as being stupid. Really, as if the ducks would be gods. I could hardly understand why Meredith enjoyed feeding them though, it made no sense, she was a demon, by all accounts she should want to kill them, or eat them, anything but feed  _them_ . I watched as she threw the bread into the water. This was ridiculous, really I should be taking her back to hell for her trail and execution- treacherous creature, consorting with Angels.

“I can't believe that we're having lunch with them on Wednesday.” The Angel said as he threw some bread into the water.

Lunch with who? I inched closer to hear them, not that I really needed to.

“I want to ask them how they did it.” Meredith said as she slouched into the chair, her lazy pose reminding me of another demon- and if it didn't make my blood boil. “Aziraphale seems really kind, I can see what attracts Crowley to him- he has this natural caring, I dunno, aura about him.”

_Wait_ . Were they... were they meeting with Crowley and his Angel to have lunch!? I shouldn't be surprised, I really shouldn't. Traitors meeting for lunch would be something that they did, but I just could not believe my ears. How could she sink so low. I wished that I could summon some rain or something to inconvenience their little outing, but the lovely sunny weather refused to cooperate with me- strange for England from what I knew of the place.

“He's an _Angel_.” the Angel countered. “Of course he's caring, he's a 'being of love', everything about him is love and caring for gods creatures.”

“Okay Father James.” Meredith crossed her arms and looked up at him with a smirk. “Since you're an Angel, does that mean that you care for others, and for little ol' me?” 

This was disgusting. They were disgusting. 

The Angel snorted. “I don't know if I care for you-” when she made a noise he stuck his tongue out at her teasingly- he was teasing her!? “but yes, it is in my nature to care.” he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a notepad and a pencil, he then proceeded to flip through to a page before starting to write(?) something.

“Haven't you drawn the ducks a thousand times?”

Ah, he was drawing. Well someone wasn't doing his job- I almost rolled my eyes at my own thoughts, of  _course_ he wasn't doing his job, he was having sex, among other things, with a fucking demon. I growled, though it sounded like a croak. 

“Well, It's not as though I have anything else to do right now, do I?” the Angel shot back with a quirk of his lips. What a cheeky bastard.

“Well then James, what do you want to do? We could check out an art gallery, followed by some lunch?” Meredith raised her legs and crossed them over his lap- how long had they known each other in such a way as to adopt such ease with each other? Meredith had only been on Earth for two years and they seemed to have, in that time become completely relaxed with one another. It was disgusting. 

The Angel, James, closed his note pad and slid it back into the pocket. “That sounds rather nice.” he beamed, fucking Angels. “Shall we?” he lifted Meredith's legs and unceremoniously dropped them to the ground.

“Let's go.” and with that said, they left and I was left sitting on my rock staring at the ducks. One of the creatures tried to attack me with their beak, so I turned it into a mass of maggots. I ate some but I also enjoyed watching the other ducks, in a flurry, attacking what was once one of their own.

 

X

 

I sat on the windowsill of the Angel's shop and watched as Crowley paced the inside. He seemed bored, or anxious about something, possibly both. I enjoyed watching Crowley in a state but it was not enough. Anger flashed through me, I hated him.  _I hated him._ Crowley suddenly stopped and called something out to the Angel, who turned his attention from packing books. They seemed to discuss something before the Angel pulled himself from the piles of books and followed Crowley out the door of the shop. I hopped down from the window, an easy task when I was a mouse and followed the two to Crowley's motor vehicle- car, my mind supplied. The pair climbed into the into the car, and Crowley, ever the fucking gentleman, held the bloody door open for the Angel! 

“Thank you my Dear.” The Angel smiled at him before sitting in the car.

Crowley smiled back before going to his side and climbing in. I followed after them and slid into the back of the car quickly before the pair could notice my presence. I took a spot under Crowley's seat to ride with them. I really wish that I hadn't. Crowley's driving was... less than ideal. The last time I had been in the car with Crowley, he had discorperated me by driving through the flaming wall that was the M25. While this drive was significantly better than the last, Crowley still drove like a maniac and I found myself being flung from side to side under the seat. I had no idea where we were going or how long it was going to take, but I knew, that if I hadn't hated Crowley before, I bloody well did now! My head had been smack around a good twenty-something times before the damn hunk of metal finally stopped.

I dizzily heard the doors open and hastily bolted from the car and hid under it. I looked around and from what I could see we were outside of some sort of restaurant. Crowley and his Angel linked arms and walked into the establishment. I wanted to follow after them but I wasn't stupid, I needed a human form, not my usual one, they wouldn't let me in. I jumped from under the car and transformed into a lady wearing a simple pants suit. It wasn't flashy but it was enough to blend in. 

“Excuse me Miss.” I turned and looked down to see a little blonde girl looking up at me. 

“What?” I snapped.

She pointed to the building. “They won't let me in cause I'm too young, but I really want some of their special fried rice and my daddy won't be home for hours, so could I please come in with you? You don't have to pay for me, I have my own money!” she put emphasis on her point by holding up a little pink bag.

“Fine.” I'm not sure what compelled me to agree with the girl, but I had and now she was smiling at me. I pushed some of my hair out of my face, blonde curls- I refused to acknowledge whom I looked like at this current moment, it certainly was _not_ Elizabeth. I gestured for the girl to follow me, this could be considered a sin for the child, sneaking out and walking into restaurants with strange people, I reassured myself.

As we were walking to the restaurants door I heard a small voice call out. “Wait!” I turned to see a boy with brown curls and stark blue eyes running up to us. “Can I come too? Since you're taking sis?”

I looked down to the girl who was staring at the boy with a smile which he was returning. I inwardly groaned, it would be so much easier to just not do any of this. I was over this. Why couldn't we just kill Crowley and be done with it? Flashes of Crowley sitting in the tub of holy water flashed through my mind. That would be why I was doing this. A sound caught my attention and I found the two staring up at me, the boy played with the sleeves of his red suit shirt and the girl adjusting the hem of her white dress. 

“Let's go.” I snapped and the children followed me into the restaurant.

The inside of the restaurant was dark with red table cloths and curtains, complete with golden dragon statues decorating the walls and acting as centrepieces on the tables. I liked that it was dark, it was easier to lurk and watch Crowley. Our table was in a corner, the two children chatted amongst themselves about something, I didn't care much to pay attention. I let them order but did not order myself anything, I was here with a purpose and eating was not it. No, my purpose was currently sitting two tables away, watching an Angel practically moan as he ate some dish with chicken and rice. 

“Oh this is delicious.” The angel dabbed at his mouth before reaching for some wine. “Oh Crowley, can we get some fortune cookies before we leave?”

Crowley chuckled. “Of course Angel.” he leaned forward on the table and continued to stare at the Angel.

I felt my lips curl. They made me feel ill. I glanced over at the children who were smiling at me while they ate... well that was unsettling. I sneered and looked back over at the two who were laughing about something, of course they were, they always seemed to be enjoying themselves.

“Thank you for being so kind.” I heard the girl say. 

I felt cold. I turned at shot them a dark look. “I am not kind.” my gravelly voice was shaking, even I could hear it. “Don't thank me.” I snapped. 

“My sister can be a bit much.” the boy said as he leaned back into the chair. “I get it, we won't be a bother, will we sis?”

The girl smiled serenely. I wanted to rip it from her face. “Of course, my apologies Miss.”

My lips tightened and I looked over at Crowley who had let out a laugh. He reached over and tried some of his partners dish, the Angel let out a sound of protest as Crowley slipped the food into his mouth. He let out a groan as the food sat in his mouth. 

“You could have just asked.” The Angel pouted causing Crowley to let out another laugh. “Really Dear.” the Angel picked one of the food with the strange sticks, I think that they're called cock-sticks? No Shop-sticks? No, but that was closer... Chop sticks! Why had I just wasted my time thinking about that? I watched as the Angel fed Crowley some of the food. I'm surprised that they didn't just have sex on the damn table!

“They're sweet.” I heard the girl say. I looked over to see her looking at Crowley and his Angel.

“How so?” I snapped.

“You can feel the love coming from them. You don't even have to feel it, you can see it.” she sipped her drink. “They're so happy!” she grinned.

“Ugh..” the boy rolled his eyes. “Yes love it so _sweet_ , doesn't mean it has to be displayed to the whole world, I don't need to see them being gross.”

I found myself agreeing with the boy, he suddenly became less disgusting in my eyes. The rest of the evening was pretty much the same from that point onwards, Crowley would do something sweet with the Angel the children would comment on whether or not it was sweet or gross, and I wished that I had just stayed in Hell, it was honestly more preferable to watching the two of them.

“Oh Crowley look at what it says!” the Angel said as he pulled out a piece of paper out of a crackers. 

“It's just nonsense Angel,” Crowley leaned back into the seat. “a gimmick, I think that we invented it.”

We had.

The Angel pulled out a set of spectacles from his coat and placed it on his nose, he looked ridiculous. He held the little piece of paper in front of him to read it. “You will find love in the spring.” he frowned briefly before grinning in a way that made me question his status as an Angel. “Perhaps I'll meet some nice person this spring.”

Crowley made a sound, it sounded almost like a growl and I found myself pausing. He actually sounded somewhat threatening in that moment. Then it was over as the pair burst into giggles. “Oh C-Crowley, your face!” he giggled. “What does yours say?”

Crowley looked down at his own. “ 'Pick another fortune cookie' “ he was silent as he started at the piece of paper before cracking a smile. “Well that's a thing.” he continued to giggle with his Angel.

I groaned. Well there was the moment gone. I looked back to my 'friends' and saw that they too, were holding some of those strange biscuit things. The girl held one out to me. “Here sir,” she said. “something tells me that this is yours.”

I frowned at the biscuit and snapped it in half as I had seen the Angel do. I pulled out the little white piece of paper. My eyes scanned over the words:

 

__Embrace the change._ _

 

_ I frowned. Whatever did that mean? _

 

_ X _

 

As the night went on, I felt myself wanting coffee, so I left the children to their own devices- they certainly weren't any of my business- and headed back to the cafe. I knew it was late, but I hadn't expected to see Elizabeth closing the shop when I arrived. I tried to open the door and found it locked, I scowled at Elizabeth who was wiping down a table as I walked up to the front door and banged on it.

Elizabeth looked up from the table and smiled. She walked up and unlocked the door. “You know we're closed.” she said as she opened the door.

I glared at her, and she seemed to find something about it amusing. She held the door open for me to enter. “I'll make you a cuppa.” I walked over to my booth and slumped down.

“You know, I could get in trouble for this.” she called out as she set the machine to make some coffee.

I don't care.

“It's okay though,” there was an edge to her voice. “I don't really care.”

I looked over to the bookshop, Crowley and his Angel had left the restaurant hours ago, but it seemed as though they had yet to return. My nose twitched as the scent of that wonderful plant hit my nose, what was it again? Cinnamon? Yes, that was right, Cinnamon. I heard her heels click together as she headed towards him. She slid the drink before me before sliding in the booth, next to me this time. How odd. Never mind, my attention was better focused on my drink. I picked up the warm mug and pressed it to my lips. Fuck, this drink was wonderful.

“I miss this...” she said suddenly, her voice soft and filled with memory. “I miss sitting with...” she looked at me briefly before looking away, she had a faraway look in her eyes, as though remembering something.

I drank my drink and hummed in response to her words, I had been missing this drink all day, so in that regard I understood her feelings. I felt her eyes on me again and I went to make a sound to express my irritation, but instead I found myself humming again, in a way that seemed to be asking her a question.

“I had a friend once... long time ago...” her voice was distant. “...we used to pass our days away just sitting together, talking, singing... touching....” she pushed her hair behind her ears, and looked at me. Her eyes were wet.

Why? “Elizabeth?” I said quietly, unable to stop myself.

She let out a hiccup and reached out to touch my cheek, my flesh almost burned from the contact. I felt my eyes widen and my lip moved silently. An image flashed behind my eyes.

_Golden hair, white wings. Fingers touching, brushing. A white smile behind rose red lips. A laugh, pure bright laugh. Gentle finger running through my hair. Lazy days resting on fields of white._

 

I blinked rapidly as the world came back into focus. As Elizabeth came back into focus. Her green eyes glittered with unshed tears. Why was she crying? What was happening? What had that vision been? My hand trembled around the mug and I'm not sure why.

“Hastur... can I...” she reached out and touched my shoulder with her other hand. “Please?” I had no idea what she was asking of me, but it became clear when her arms wound around me and she buried her face into the crook of my neck. My coat (and smell) apparently not bothering her at all. I froze as she hiccuped into my neck, her arms tightened and she inched closer to me. I should have pushed her off, I should have turned her into something and eaten her, I should have done something to end her... but I didn't, I simply... allowed her to cry into me and I'm not even sure for how long, but when she finally pulled back her face was completely blotchy and she looked like hell.

“I'm sorry.” she sniffed. “You probably didn't need that.”

“My coffee has gone cold.” I felt my lips tug upwards.

She chuckled. “I'll go get you another.

 

X

 

Tuesday

 

Tuesday brought very little change for my routine. Crowley was nowhere to be seen and his Angel was still packing books away and Meredith had disappeared somewhere, probably with her Angel somewhere so I found myself heading back to my regular spot- I would have to return to Beelzebub soon with my report. As I crossed the street I found myself met with the sight of Crowley talking with Elizabeth, the two were sat at the table talking about something. In my spot.

I felt a rage take my body, a certain possessiveness struck me and I felt myself take a different shape. I was not, contrary to what Crowley may think, stupid. I was not about to walk in a take on Crowley about a cafe booth. I flapped my little wings and flew into the cafe as a customer opened the door. As a sparrow, it would not be strange for me to take a spot up in the cafe, birds flew in and out of different places all the time. I flew up onto a rafter and bobbed along to a spot where I could view and listen. Lurk and spy basically.

“So, you remember him from back then? You knew him back then?” Crowley sounded incredulous.

Elizabeth turned a mug on the table, her fingers sliding up and down the mug. “Yes.” her voice sounded the way that she had last night. Soft and sad. “We used to sit together, I would run my fingers through his hair, it was much whiter then, like pure snow.”

I bobbed closer to them, something telling me, compelling me to get closer. Her words echoing in my mind, her story sounded familiar. Nostalgic even.

Crowley made a gesture with his hands. “I'm having a hard time picturing Hastur letting anyone run their fingers through his hair.”

...What?

Elizabeth chuckled. “He did, and if he would let me, I would still do it.” she brushed her hair behind her ear. “I miss him, I know everything happened in the past and the past is just that... I'd be happy to just be close to him.”

“Have you told him who you are Eiael?”

I stopped in my bobbing. Eiael? Eiael? Elizabeth was a fucking Angel!? I had been having coffee for weeks, weeks with a fucking Angel! Elizabeth had hugged me last night. I felt sick. I felt sick and something else. I couldn't name it I flew from the restaurant. Something in my actions must have caught their attention because Elizabeth came chasing after me, followed by Crowley. I turned back into my form and turned to her. I felt my eye burn with fury.

“Hastur!” Elizabeth reached out to me and grasped my arm. “Please wait.”

I noticed Crowley use magic and suddenly the humans around us were unaware of our existence. I turned my attention back down to the hum- no Angel in front of me. I clutched her arm, fire burst from my fingertips causing her to cry out. I tightened my hold, the smell of burning flesh hitting my nostrils, I could taste it in the air.

“Leave her alone!” Crowley moved to step between us. He didn't need to I released her arm with a snarl and left. She cried out to me but I did not care, if I ever see her again I would personally kill her.

 

It was time to go back, I had a report to give.

 

 

 

A/N: This chapter was very challenging, it took me quite some time to put it all into words, so I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

 


	10. THe Days Until the End: Sunday to Tuesday

The Days Until the End

 

Sunday

 

Meredith smiled and snuggled towards the warmth on her day bed. He was so warm, Earth, at least London, was terribly cold and having an Angel generating heat beside her was nice. She felt him move and heard him make a sound. She glanced up and saw his eyes twitch, his lips moved as though he was debating whether or not to talk.

“What do you want?” he murmured, having settled on talking.

“I want your warmth.” she replied, scooting closer to him. She draped a leg over his waist and buried her face into his shoulder. She felt him exhale in a silent chuckle, his fingers moved to her head and threaded in her black locks. She let out a sound that was practically a purr, and scooted as close as she physically could while his fingers threaded through her hair.

“Do we have anything that we need to do today?” she murmured against his neck.

He made a sound, his fingertips touched her cheek briefly before he went back to threading through her hair. “Well I have some paperwork to fill in.” he chuckled. “I'm pretty sure that you do as well.”

Meredith groaned. “I don't want to do it. I'm a demon, not a paper pusher!”

“Well we could-” he paused and sniffed the air. “Is that?” he jolted awake causing her to let out an irritated groan, and scanned the room, his eyes settled on the kitchenette. “Shit!” he shouted jumping from the daybed.

Meredith jumped up, her eyes locked onto the bright flames. “Holy shit!” she jumped from the bed, her naked body jiggled awkwardly as she scampered around the apartment, looking for something to put it out with. She eventually remembered the fire extinguisher in the hallway and bolted out the door and into the hallway. She heard a shriek, probably Elaine, so she called out an apology as she grabbed the extinguisher and ran back into the room. James turned to her bewildered with a hand raised, she bolted past him and proceeded to spread the white foam all over the kitchenette.

James looked at her with wide eyes, he seemed to be assessing what had just happened, then with a click of his fingers, the foam disappeared and the kitchenette reset itself. “We could have just used magic to solve the problem, Meredith.” he sounded smug.

She glowered at him as his smug expression seemed to widen. He brushed past her and moved to sit on one of her stools by the bench of the kitchenette. He rested his forearms on the bench and turned back to her with an angelic smile. “Breakfast?” he practically sang.

Her lip quirked and she walked towards the fridge. “What would you like?” she asked as she opened the cold appliance.

He leaned over the bench to get a better view of the inside of the refrigerator. He hummed as his eyes scanned the variety of foods that she had stored. She made a note that his eyes lingered on the bacon but also were settling on the eggs. He seemed to be struggling over which one to choose. She considered asking if he wanted both, but decided against it, he could have his internal struggle a little longer.

“I think... eggs, with some toast?”

She smiled and pulled out some eggs. She put the eggs beside the stove-top and pulled out a frying pan, while the pan heated up she put some toast in the toaster. While she did this, she felt herself being filled with a... domestic feeling? It was strange, cooking for for James, something about it seemed sweet to her. Sweet in the way that she knew should not be allowed for a demon, but, alas, here they were. She smiled as the toast popped.

 

X

 

Crowley leaned back into the chair and held the glass of wine to his lips. He smiled down at the Angel who was currently packing away more books. He had to give Aziraphale credit, he really thought that the Angel would have seen 'the light' by now and just used magic. He wondered if Aziraphale was waiting for something, _stalling_ , for some reason. 'Possibly because of their 'lunch date'' he thought with a frown. He wasn't quite sure why Aziraphale had decided that they needed to have lunch with their stalkers.

“Are you alright, Dear boy?” Aziraphale asked as he reached for his glass of wine.

“Hm?” Crowley looked up. “ 'course, why?”

“You just seem.. lost in thought.” Aziraphale said behind his glass.

Crowley slouched further into the chair, his lithe body seeming to melt into the sofa. “I'm pondering how someone as clever as you can't just see why it's not easier to use magic.”

The Angel chuckled in response. “Perhaps I simply enjoy the exasperation on your face.” His words caused Crowley to let out a laugh which he joined heartily. His shoulders shaking as they were wracked with laughter. He bowed forwards as he laughed, it was then that he noticed something odd. Not so much as odd, but coincidental- however it was the type of coincidence that was too strange to be considered a coincidence.

Crowley noticed the strange look in his Angel's eyes and leaned forward in the chair. “Hey, you alright Angel?”

“Crowley,” he blinked and leaned forward towards the shops window. “I, I think that I need to sober up.”

Crowley blinked and tilted his head, they had barely had three glasses of wine. “What's wrong?”

“That snail...” he, almost weakly, pointed a finger at one of the windows close to the main door. “I think it's writing a word, 'Thingumbob'...” he paused and his brows furrowed. “I haven't seen that word in a long time.”

Crowley leaned towards the window, his eyes narrowing to give him a better view. He suddenly let out a chuckle and leaned back into the chair. “Well that's Hastur.” he crossed his arms across his chest as he shook with silent laughter. “I shouldn't be surprised, he did join the 'stalker squad', odd choice of insults to write on our window though.”

“It just means penis, Crowley, it's hardly an insult.” Aziraphale replied before looking back at Crowley. “What should we do about this?”

Crowley hummed. “Nothing.”

“ _Nothing?_ ”

“Nothing.” Crowley repeated, grinning at the incredulous expression on Aziraphale's face. “What could we do about it? Who cares? He's just writing rude words.” He ignored Aziraphale's dark look. “Relax, he won't do anything, come with me?” he stood from the sofa and waved for the Angel to follow.

Aziraphale sent a weary glance at the snail before rising from the floor and following after him. “What about the books?” he said quietly. “What if that demon-”

“He won't.” Crowley reassured while placing a hand on the Angel's lower back as he guided him towards the back room. “He still thinks that he can't touch us, he'll probably try something soon though.”

“You think so?”

“He's pretending to be a snail, he's here to watch us, not _kill_ us.”

“If you say so Dear.”

“Don't sound so worried, now shall I give your _Thingumbob_ some attention?”

“ _Crowley!_ ”

Crowley answered with laughter.

 

X

 

Monday

 

Crowley paced up and down the very nearly empty bookshop while the Angel _still_ packed away books. He was _bored_ , bored and restless. He was also paranoid, while Hastur sitting on the window had not surprised him, _no_ , he had been expecting that. But the thing about it that made him paranoid, was the fact that that was all that Hastur had been doing, watching. Hastur was a lurker, yes, that was a fact, but while he was a lurker, he was not known for his patience with these sorts of things. He also _hated_ Crowley, so the fact that he was going out of his way to observe him was, to be frank, unnerving.

He ran a hand through his hair while he paced. He looked over to his Angel who was sitting on the floor packing away the books, basked in candlelight. He smiled lightly at Aziraphale before frowning as his eyes caught the candlelight. He hated that the Angel still used the candlelight, Aziraphale had explained why the shop had burned down and while Crowley understood, he still did not want his Angel near the flames- so they had compromised, Aziraphale would only use the candles while Crowley was there so that, were anything to happen, he was there to do something about it.

Feeling the others eyes on him, Aziraphale glanced up and raised a questioning brow. “What is it Dear?”

_We're not having candles in the cottage._ He wanted to say, but instead his keys appeared in his hand. He held them up with a jingle. “Lunch Angel?”

Aziraphale looked down at the books then back up at Crowley. Upon seeing the 'puppy eyes' his demon was displaying he sighed inwardly and pulled himself up from the floor. “Of course dear.” he conceded.

Crowley grinned and pulled a pair of glasses out from his jacket. “Let's go then!” he, almost cheerfully, led Aziraphale out of the shop and to the Bentley. While they walked, Crowley noticed the green toad following after them. He felt a smirk tug at his lips. He opened the door to the car and gestured for Aziraphale to go inside. 

“Thank you my Dear.” Aziraphale smiled brightly as he climbed into the vehicle, seemingly oblivious to what Crowley was plotting.

Crowley shut the car door and walked over to his side of the car. He opened the door and stood outside for a little longer than necessary. From behind his glasses he watched the toad scramble into the car. Once he was satisfied, he too, climbed into the car and started up the engine. As he clutched the steering wheel, he felt a hand touch his thigh. He looked over to see Aziraphale watching him with pursed lips, his blue eyes glanced to under Crowley's seat and back up to him. Crowley grinned and the Bentley started to move. 

Aziraphale instantly held onto the car for dear life as Crowley swerved from side to side, took corners sharper than usual and drove in a way that was... just plain insane, even by Crowley's standards. Aziraphale hoped that the demon under the seat was suffering, because if he had to, the least that Hastur could do was suffer as well. When they finally did reach their destination, Aziraphale was sure that he was going to discorperate from the sheer stress of the ride. He opened the door and staggered from the car woozily. He closed the door behind him and found Crowley standing in front of him- a humble smile on his face. He frowned but allowed his arm to be linked and to be led into the Chinese restaurant. 

They were seated and ordered some food, two bowls of sweet honey chicken and rice. The restaurant was dark but allowed them a perfect view of the woman who was Hastur while still being able to enjoy each other's company. Aziraphale looked over to the woman and frowned as he noticed 'her' sitting with two children, one of which he recognised, at least he had a feeling that he had seen the young girl before. 

“Are we having lunch as some clever ploy to watch Hastur?” he said quietly as he nobbled at his food. He let out a moan, the chicken was _amazing_.

“We're having lunch because I love you,” Crowley replied as he reached over and touched The Angel's wrist. At Aziraphale's frowned he continued. “Watching Hastur is just an added bonus.” if Aziraphale were able to see his eyes from behind the glasses he would see them glittering with amusement. 

Aziraphale huffed before turning his attention back to the dish. 

“Oh come on Angel,” Crowley rubbed the other's wrist gently. “The food's good, enjoy yourself.” he chuckled. “The sooner you pack away your books, the sooner we can be away from all of this.” he gestured back to Hastur who seemed to be snapping something at the children.

Aziraphale pursed his lips, but chose not to reply to Crowley. He instead opted to take another bite of his food. He moaned. “Oh this is delicious.” He dabbed at his mouth before reaching for some wine. “Oh Crowley, can we get some fortune cookies before we leave?”

Crowley chuckled. “Of course Angel.” he leaned forward on the table and continued to stare at the Angel.

“I'm surprised that he hasn't done anything _unsavoury_ to those children...” Aziraphale murmured from behind his wine glass. “You don't think that, they too, are...” he trailed off.

Crowley shook his head. “Nah, I don't think they're demons..” he replied quietly. The continued to eat in silence, well the Angel ate and the Demon watched, for some time before Crowley decided to break the silence. He reached over with his fork and stole some of the Angel's food, despite having a bowl of his own in front of him. He let out a laugh at the scowl his actions caused his Angel to have.

Aziraphale tutted. “You could have just asked.” he pouted, an action that caused Crowley to let out another laugh. “Really Dear.” he lifted his chopsticks and scooped up some food. He leaned forward and offered the food to Crowley, who opened his mouth and took the food.

He let out a moan and Aziraphale smiled, he was a little surprised at Crowley for his displays of public affection. Crowley was a private person and while things had changed since the end of the world that didn't happen, the demon still did not give out public affection willy-nilly. This was... nice, if only Crowley weren't doing it because of Hastur watching them. He continued with his meal and tried to enjoy himself as much as Crowley seemed to be.

Later on in the evening, once their meals were finished, they were given their fortune cookies. Aziraphale was excited by the treats and practically tore it apart to get to the little piece of paper inside. His eyes lit up as he clutched at the piece of paper.“Oh Crowley look at what it says!” Aziraphale said as he pulled out a piece of paper out of a crackers.

“It's just nonsense Angel,” Crowley leaned back into the seat. “a gimmick, I think that we invented it.”

Aziraphale made a sound at his words and pulled out a set of spectacles from his coat and placed it on his nose. He held the little piece of paper in front of him to read it. “You will find love in the spring.” he frowned briefly before grinning brightly at Crowley, his eyes gleamed with a certain cheekiness. “Perhaps I'll meet some nice person this spring.”

Crowley made a sound, it sounded almost like a growl that made him sound somewhat threatening in that moment. Aziraphale stilled and stared at Crowley with wide eyes, as though he was somewhat afraid of the Demon in that moment. Then the moment was over as the pair burst into giggles. “Oh C-Crowley, your face!” he laughed. “What does yours say?”

Crowley looked down at his own. “ 'Pick another fortune cookie' “ he was silent as he started at the piece of paper before cracking a smile. “Well that's a thing.” he continued to giggle with his Angel.

“Let's go home Dear.” Aziraphale said as he reached over to take Crowley's hand, he gently stroked the back of his hand with his thumb.

Crowley felt his lip twitch upwards, he knew where this was going. “Sure thing Angel.”

 

X

 

Tuesday

 

Crowley walked the stride of a man on a mission, and technically he was. The mission, talking to the Archangel Eial who was currently pretending to be a waitress in the cafe that happened to be across the street from his Angel's bookshop. Now it should be a simple, mission, sit her down and tell her that he knows who she is and demand to know what she was doing there. The problem, however was that he doubted, most sincerely, that she was going to do it. It was _never_ that simple.

With a little bit of magic he was able to ensure that the other wait staff were all busy with other customers. So he strut into the cafe and found himself a booth to sit at. He placed his hands in front of him expectantly and looked up at her with a smile that did not reach his eyes, not that she could see them behind his glasses. He drummed his fingers against the table as she sorted through the plates and wiped at the already clean glasses- she almost seemed to be avoiding him, which may well have been the case. Eventually, however she had to concede to her loss and she walked over to the table.

“Can I take your order?” she asked with a small smile.

“Sure thing!” he looked up at her. “I would like an Angel cake and a coffee, if that's not too much trouble, Eial.”

Her lips tightened, she said nothing and turned to collect his order. He watched her as she pottered around and collected his order. When she came back, on the tray was two mugs of coffee and a plate with his angel cake on it. She set the tray down and scooted into the chair across from him. She fingered the mug briefly before shooting him a sharp look.

“What do you want, _Crowley_?” her green eyes pierced him.

“I want a lot of things.” Crowley replied casually. “Some peace and quiet for one, but since that isn't happening any time soon, I'll settle for knowing why you're here, and what you've been conspiring with Hastur about?”

Something in his words caused her to let out a cold laugh. “You think I'm here to interfere with you and your _boyfriend_?”

His face hardened. “Forgive me, you Angel's haven't given me any reason to think otherwise.”

Elizabeth took a sip of her drink and pushed his angel cake towards him. “Contrary to what you may think, my relationship to Hastur has nothing to do with you or Aziraphale.” she made a noise and looked over to the bookshop. “I'm surprised that you haven't left here yet.” she said quietly.

Crowley frowned. What was she doing with Hastur? If she wasn't here to conspire with him then what? She simply _enjoyed_ his company? While it certainly had looked like that the last time he had seen them together, it seemed too odd for him to believe it. There was no way that anyone would _willingly_ enjoy time with the Duke of Hell. “Then what are you doing with him?”

Elizabeth sent him a look, a look that said 'Why should I tell you?'. When he stared silently in response to her look, they found themselves having a stare-off, it was only a matter of time before one of them cracked. She eventually broke eye contact with him and glanced down at her mug, a sad look taking her face. “I knew him...” she said suddenly. “I knew him before....” she gestured around them. “...before all of this.”

Crowley's eyes widened. “You can't mean?”

Elizabeth nodded.

“But,” Crowley began carefully. “...are you sure that's it's him? The Angel you're thinking of and Hastur could be two entirely different people.

Her eyes flashed and she sent him a look that said she knew exactly who she was talking about and that he had better stop that line of questioning. 

He got the message quite quickly and asked her another question. “So, you remember him from back then? You knew him back then?” His voice was incredulous, there was no way, she couldn't possibly know Hastur from before the fall. He wasn't even sure who Hastur had been before falling.

Elizabeth turned a mug on the table, her fingers sliding up and down the mug. “Yes.” her voice sounded soft and sad, full of a tragedy that Crowley felt in his chest. If voices were emotions, then her voice sounded how he had felt for Aziraphale for all of those years, full of love and sadness. “We used to sit together, I would run my fingers through his hair, it was much whiter then, like pure snow.”

Crowley gestured wildly with his hands. “I'm having a hard time picturing Hastur letting anyone run their fingers through his hair.” it was true, Hastur, at least the Hastur he knew, hated being touched, there was no way that he could picture anyone playing with his hair.

Elizabeth chuckled as she caught the expression on his face, she understood what he was feeling. “He did, and if he would let me, I would still do it.” she brushed her hair behind her ear, her eyes began to water. “I miss him, I know everything happened in the past and the past is just that... I'd be happy to just be close to him.”

“Have you told him who you are Eiael?” It was not long after Crowley said those words, that they heard the sound of a bird screech. Elizabeth must have heard it too as she looked up, her eyes widening. He joined her in looking up and was met with the sight of a bird fleeing the cafe.

Hastur.

“Hastur!” Elizabeth called as she ran from the booth and out of the cafe. Crowley chased close behind her, he watched as she caught up with him in the street and grasped his arm.

“Hastur!” Elizabeth reached out and grasped his arm. “Please wait.” her voice was full of her pain.

Crowley made a symbol with his fingers and suddenly any humans who might have noticed them were now unaware of their existence. He watched with sad eyes as Hastur burned her arm. “Leave her alone!” he called out as he moved to step between them, but Hastur released her arm with a snarl and fled.

“No!” she let out a scream that came from the deepest part of her chest and was filled with a raw pain that had been building for thousands of years. It was such a cry that those who heard it, felt the pain that she had endured.

“Eiael?” Crowley stepped forwards, only to jump back as she lunged at him wildly.

“I was Happy damn you!” she cried. “It didn't matter that he didn't know me, didn't remember me-” she beat her fists against his chest. “I was happy! I was...” she collapsed onto the side walk. “..happy.” she sobbed.

Crowley took a hesitant step towards her and knelt down, his movements slow, he was unsure what to do. He reached out to touch her and at the same time he opened his mouth to say something, only another voice beat him to it. “What in heavens name is happening out here Crowley?”

Crowley turned to Aziraphale and went to reply, only to cut off again. “No, not out here, come into the book shop.” he looked down at Elizabeth. “Come with me dear, I have just put on a pot of tea.” Elizabeth let out a hiccup and allowed Aziraphale to lead her across the street and into the shop, then she was led to the sofa where he helped her sit down and gave her a cup of tea. While she clutched the warm mug, Aziraphale turned to Crowley, who had been silent while he walked over with them.

“What is going on?” He asked coolly.

Crowley crossed his arms. “I asked her about who she was and her relationship with Hastur- he apparently was listening to us, he freaked out, burned her and she attacked me.

At hearing that Elizabeth was hurt, Aziraphale turned to see her clutching at her blistered arm. “Oh, my poor dear, let me do something about that.” he moved to take her arm only for her to hold it away from him. He looked at her, shocked, as she clutched the arm to her chest, like it was something precious.

“Don't.” she said quietly. “I could fix it, if I wanted,” she winced as she touched a blister. “I want to keep this, it's probably the only thing he'll ever give me now.” there was something loving about the way she touched the burnt flesh.

“You're in love with him.” Aziraphale said quietly as he sat beside her.

Crowley remained standing, but moved closer to his Angel, his body ready to act- just in case she chose to have another freak out.

“It was me who was meant to fall.” her voice was soft, so low that, were they not occult and ethereal beings, they would not have heard her. “I was there... with Lucifer... Hastur he... told god that it was him, he took the blame for me, and then he fell.” water trickled from her eyes. “He forgot me when he fell, but I didn't, I remembered it all...” her shoulders shook and Aziraphale placed a warm hand on her back, she leaned into the touch. “..God punished me with memory, and I've hated God since.” a venom took her voice, her voice became so dark it would have put out the sun.

Crowley and Aziraphale audibly gasped in union at her declaration. “B-But surely y-you don't m-mean that!” Azirphale gasped in horror, his eyes wide and filled with true horror. She was still an Angel, even thought she felt that way, he took a glance at Crowley, a wonderful, caring creature such as he was one of the fallen, when an Angel was declaring her hatred of God.

“Why didn't you tell God that it was you then!?” Crowley sounded angry. “Why not tell her and fall!?”

Elizabeth rose from the chair angrily. “I did! This-” she pointed at herself. “-this is my punishment! To remain an Angel, even if it hurts! To want to be free and have that freedom withheld from me!” she flailed her hands wildly, but amazingly she didn't spill her tea. “Who do you think was responsible for Elizabeth Bathory, Queen Mary, Yoko-Ono?! I've been trying to fall for years! Just so I could be with him, be where I was meant to be!”

Her body trembled from her rage and it looked as though she was going to have another burst of rage, she stilled. She closed her bloodshot eyes and let out a ragged breath. “I am sorry that you had to see this.” she ran a hand through her hair. “I apologise for your involvement in this ordeal, it's my problems, not yours..” she placed the mug down on the coffee table. “I... thank you for the tea... and... sorry again...” and with that she was gone, as though she had never been there.

Crowley stared at the spot where the Angel had once been with a frown on his face. He thought over her words and was unable to process them. He had heard them, he could remember it perfectly, but he still could not believe what he had heard. She had been trying to fall? For years? He heard a sound, a whimper and looked over to see his own Angel weeping.

“Oh Angel,” he rushed over to Aziraphale. “Don't cry, please don't cry.” he wrapped his arms around his love tightly and as wetness touched his chest, he felt a piece of his heart break. He needed to stop this, he hated seeing Aziraphale this way. He kissed the blond curls and rocked him gently.

“You don't deserve to be a demon, you are such a wonderful, beautiful, caring, creature, my love.” the Angel sobbed. “You deserve better...”

Crowley felt his chest ache, not with pain, but love. “Oh Angel...” he held Aziraphale tighter, his own eyes tingling. “It's okay my love,” he said quietly. “It's okay.”

“Oh Crowley...”

 


	11. The End

Chapter Eleven

 

The End

 

Meredith wrung her hands nervously as she walked through the streets of Soho towards the cafe. Why was she nervous? Because today was the day that she was to meet Aziraphale and Crowley for lunch. A lunch where they were to _talk_ about things. What sort of things? She hoped it was about how they pulled their little 'stunt'. She was more than desperate to know by now, but it wasn't for the reason that she had originally thought, now she wanted to know as a means to get away from Hell, she wanted freedom, she _needed_ her freedom. She turned a corner and continued down a street, she and James had agreed to meet at the cafe before heading out. She had a strange feeling when she thought of the cafe, a feeling of something coming to an end, she hoped that it was just standard paranoia and not some psychic premonition.

As she reached closer to the cafe she looked over to the bookshop which looked empty. The light beaming through the window lit up the shop, the bookshelves were bare and there seemed to be nothing and no one in there. They had finally finished packing, it seemed. She frowned, on one hand she was happy for them, lucky bastards were able to get their freedom, on the other hand she was sad, she had heard that Aziraphale had owned the shop for a long time. Endings of era's seemed to resonate from their source, and she could feel something radiating from the shop, poignant it was.

With a shake of her head she turned towards the cafe and walked towards it. Her feet had a drag to them, she was not sure why. She opened the door to the cafe and saw the normal sight of waitresses fluttering about after customers. She stepped through the threshold and it was then she noticed Elizabeth, who was looking quite irritated, talking to a man.

“Come on love, give us your number.” he urged grasping at her arm.

Her lips tightened. “I have already said no.” she tilted her head to the door. “You can leave now.”

Meredith slid closer and watched as the human ignored her and continued to nag her for 'a date' and 'her number'. She closed her eyes and sighed, she just wanted a coffee, she didn't need this, she wondered if any of the other waitresses would serve her. She noticed that the other servers were avoiding Elizabeth and by proxy, herself. She sighed, she wished that James were here, then he would do the good dead and not _her_.

She twitched her fingers and prepared to rid the shop of the annoyance.

Suddenly Elizabeth straightened her back, her chin raised, her eyes flashed, almost black.“ _**You need to leave.** _ ”

Meredith watched with wide eyes as the man went still. His eyes widened with horror as his body moved of it's own volition and he turned rigidly and walked out of the shop. Meredith glanced back at Elizabeth who continued to watch the man. She turned her eyes back to the man as he walked out into the street, his body seemed to be fighting against itself as it walked out onto the road. Her mouth hung open as the man took three more steps out onto the road and then-  _ Bang! _ He was hit by a speeding mini, his body sent flying before landing in a misshapen heap.

She felt herself drop into her booth and watched, horrified, as people rushed to help the man. There was no use though, he was dead. She turned to look at Elizabeth who was watching the scene with a  _ smile _ , her black eyes flashing with humour before the green returned to them. With a chuckle she turned to Meredith and pulled out a notepad. 

“Would you like your usual?” she asked, her voice cheerful and filled with something that Meredith could not name.

Meredith nodded quietly and watched as Elizabeth bounced to the back of the shop to get the order. She stared at the blonde, her face becoming pensive as things began to link within her brain.

That was how James found her.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked as he slid into the booth across from her.

“She's not human.” she said quietly.

James frowned and turned to follow her line of sight. When he saw Elizabeth he turned back to her with a raised brow. “What do you mean? She feels human to me.”

Meredith's lips tightened. “She's not.” her voice was low, a growl perhaps.

James opened his mouth to reply but stopped as the woman in question came back with Meredith's coffee. “Here you go dear.” she slid the mug towards her. She looked at James briefly before before glancing back at Meredith. “I'll be going away,” she said suddenly. “you'll not see me again after today, I just wanted to say goodbye, I've enjoyed serving you these last few years.”

Meredith looked up at her, her eyes were hard and calculating. “It...” she began slowly. “it has been nice to know you. It would have been nice to  _ know  _ you better.”

Elizabeth smiled. “Goodbye Dear Meredith.” with a wink she left the cafe, through the front door, as though she had never been there.

Meredith watched the door with sad eyes. She would miss Elizabeth, she along with James had been a constant during her time on Earth. It was strange to think that she had never been human all this time. Which raised a question, what  _ was _ she?

James hummed speculatively. When Meredith sent him a questioning look he merely shrugged. “There are some things we are meant to understand, others we aren't.”

She frowned. “Now just what is  _ that  _ supposed to mean?” 

He shook his head with a speculative smile. “It's not important. What is important is that we are going to be late.” he rose from the booth and held out a hand to her. “Shall we?”

She pulled herself from her booth and slid her hand into his. “We shall.”

 

 

X

 

Their trip to St. James' park was a silent one. Meredith watched as they drove past people walking by and the other cars. Her eyes slid up to the sky, it was clear and oddly wonderful, under normal circumstances she would consider it a good omen of things to come, but Meredith knew better. Meredith was a Demon, which meant that she was a pessimist, and being a pessimist meant that she knew, _knew,_ that something was going to happen.

“Stop frowning Meredith,” James piped as he pulled into a car park. “Everything is going to be alright.” he clicked his fingers and the car switched off. He turned to her, his dark eyes were soft and filled with something the she couldn't name, they glittered from behind his spectacles. “If you're so worried, we don't have to do this, we can continue to be as we are, stalkers.” he said the last word teasingly.

She rolled her eyes at him, but her lip twitched upwards. “That would really get to Crowley, wouldn't it?” she pulled herself from the car and watched while he did the same. “Do you think they're waiting for us? Or did we get here first?”

James shrugged. “Let's go an find out.” he gestured forwards and the two walked through the park.

While they walked, Meredith watched as James stared at the trees and the people and everything else in the park, he seemed to be taking everything in as though it were the last time. She wanted to say something to him, the two of them were both being overly glum and she wasn't sure that she could handle it any longer. She opened her mouth, but then closed it again, it could wait.

“They arrived here before us, it would seem.” Meredith jumped as James spoke suddenly.

She glanced up at him and saw his dark eyes staring, she followed his line of sight and saw them. Crowley and Aziraphale sitting on a park bench, between them was a paper bag that appeared to be filled with bread as they were feeding the ducks. Meredith took a moment to watch them, it was strange, she had been watching them for the last two years but for some reason today it felt different. As though she would not be doing it again. She kind of hoped that would not be watching them again for good reasons, but her gut was telling her another story.

As if feeling the eyes on him, Aziraphale turned his head to his them and smiled, his blue eyes warm. Meredith smiled awkwardly back and walked wordlessly to the pair. She pulled some bread from the bag and threw it to the ducks before moving to stand beside the sitting Angel. James copied her actions and stood silently beside Crowley. A cool breeze passed them and the now empty bag lifted and landed on the path, it fluttered down the path with a crinkle. A passer-by moved to pick it up, only to let out a shriek as a spider crawled out from inside.

“ _Crowley!”_ Aziraphale hissed.

Aziraphale raised his hands defensively. “It wasn't me!” he chuckled. “ 'was funny though.”

Dark eyes shot to Meredith. “Really?” James raised a delicate brow.

Meredith grinned and the paper bag caught fire before dissolving into nothing.

“Well.” Aziraphale pulled himself up to stand, he clasped his hands in front of him. “Let's get a wiggle on.” he smiled. “I was thinking the Ritz.”

 

X

 

The Ritz was strange, Meredith decided. It was beautiful, but not like anything that she had ever seen before. As they were led to their table and Meredith took in the beautiful décor she found herself feeling under dressed, a feeling that she had never felt before. She had worn a simple pair of black jeans and a black blouse and James had dressed in his usual attire. She wished that she had worn something else, what, she did not know. She watched as Aziraphale and Crowley took their chairs while she and James sat across from them.

She glanced down at their menu, there were so many meals. She felt as though she needed a day to just sit here and enjoy all of the different foods. She looked up and saw the others watching her with amusement. “What?” she frowned.

“You do love your food.” James smirked.

Meredith raised her nose haughtily. “What is wrong with enjoying food?” she gestured to the menu. “Look at my options, they are morsels of wonder and I wish to partake.”

Crowley let out a laugh. “Sorry, you just remind me of someone.” he chuckled, though his eyes were hidden by glasses it was obvious that he was looking at the Angel beside him.

Aziraphale went to say something, only to stop as their waiter came to take their order. The four of them ordered and Crowley requested an expensive house wine. With their orders taken and their wine received, a silence took the table. Meredith fingered the condensation on the wine flute as she soaked in the silence. She had so much that she had wanted to ask them, so much that she wanted to know, but now, now that she was across from them, she found her voice lost.

“How _long_ were the two of you fraternising, before you were caught?” James said suddenly before reaching for his wine.

Crowley's lips thinned at the word 'fraternising'.

Aziraphale smiled serenely. “Well you see, that there is a story from a long time ago- the garden.”

Crowley made a sound.

Meredith's eyes widened and she felt James tense beside her. She had been told that they had _known_ each other for a long time, but... the garden? She dropped her hand from her glass and it fell to the table with a thunk. “You've... you've been _friends_ with Crowley since... _the garden_!?” being a born demon, she had never seen the garden, nor had she been around when it was accessible, but she had heard about it, it's splendour and beauty.

“Of course, you were the catalyst for original sin..” James said quietly.

Crowley moved in his chair and Meredith had the distinct impression that he was rolling his eyes. “Well, if they didn't want anyone eating those apples, God wouldn't have put the tree out in the open.”

Aziraphale made a sound, it almost sounded like agreement, _almost._ “Wily old serpent.” he said fondly before taking a sip of his wine. “I have a question for you.” he then said, his blue eyes taking in the two beings across from him. “What exactly, is your job in regards to us? I have a hypothesis, but I would like clarification.”

James glanced at Meredith through the corner of his eyes. She returned the look and nodded fractionally. “We were sent separately, but we share the same goal; to discover how you were able to survive the hellfire and the holy water. By all rights you should not be here.”

Aziraphale nodded. “I had suspected as such.” he went silent, his eyes scanning their features as though trying to come to some sort of decision. He was silent for the longest time he seemed to be studying them, the silence was almost maddening.

“When did you engage in a sexual relationship?” James said bluntly, causing Meredith to blanch. “Heaven feels that you two have been 'boyfriends' for years, decades even.”

“James!” Meredith hissed.

“What?”

“You don't just ask people how long they've been shagging for!”

“I hardly see the problem. This is technically part of our job.”

“Even so-”

Aziraphale's giggle cut through them. “You two are sweet.” his words caused Crowley to snort.

“They'll get a commendation for their _investigative_ work.” Crowley said smugly as he leaned back into the chair.

“At least they're _doing_ the work.” His Angel shot back smugly causing Crowley to snort quietly. “I do believe though,” he drew his attention back to the two across from them. “You probably don't need to know about our sexual relations, do you?” he clasped his hands together and leaned forward to rest them on the table. “That isn't what you want to know either, really.”

Meredith shook her head. No, they really did not need to know about the pairs sexual life, nor did she think that her superiors needed to know. She reached for her wine and took a sip. She thought about her superiors, if they told her what she needed to know, would she tell them? Or would she take that information and use it for her own advantage? She had a feeling that she would do the latter.

“No.” she said quietly. “No I don't care about that,” she placed her glass down on the table- _where was their food?_ “No, what I want to know is... how did you do it? At first it was just a job, but now? Now I want, no need to know.”

“I'm sure you do.” Crowley chimed, reaching for his glass. “It's simple, we lied.”

James made a sound and tilted his head, confusion etched on his face. “What do you mean, _lied_? Gabriel literally had Aziraphale step into hellfire!”

“It was a special lie.” Aziraphale commented.

Meredith pursed her lips and glanced between the two. _Lied indeed_. She could believe that they lied, but there was no way that the standard definition of a lie is what they did. They may have lied, but there was something else that they had done, she just had to figure it out. “What else did you do?” she said quietly.

The Angel's eyes lit up. “If you had to theorise what we did, what would think that we did? Dear girl.”

Meredith paused as she thought. “Well...” she said eventually. “You do spend a lot of time having sex- did your _bond_ have something to do with this?” She watched as Crowley blanched and Aziraphale chuckled again. “My strongest theory was that it had something to do with you two swapping fluids” she flushed. “but, ah, James and I have already, _tested,_ that theory and well, I don't think that I'm immune to holy water.”

Beside her, James gave extra attention to his wine.

“ _Swapping_ fluids.” Aziraphale murmured, his eyes glanced down at his joined fingers before glancing back at Meredith. “You are... not entirely wrong.” he said quietly before smiling as the waiter came with their food.

“Something was _certainly_ swapped.” Crowley chuckled before reaching for his glass of wine.

Aziraphale lifted his fork and scooped some of his crab. Meredith watched as he lifted the food to his mouth to consume it. He closed his eyes and moaned, a small portion of it caught on the corner of his lips as he took the fork away. She paused, something about that seemed odd, at least from what she understood of him, the Angel was not the sort to spill his food- at least, that was what she had gathered from watching him for two years.

“You got some on your _face_.” Crowley commented passing him a napkin.

Aziraphale moaned at the taste of the crab before dabbing at his mouth as he finished. “Thank you Dear.” he smiled. “I don't know what I would do without you.”

Crowley made a sound before turning his attention to his own food. Meredith glanced at James who was watching the two with fierce eyes, as though he was waiting for the to hurry up and tell them just how they had managed to do it all. She frowned and looked down at her salad, she poked it with her fork while she mulled over their evening.

_'You've got some on your face.'_

She stabbed some lettuce and tomato onto her fork.

_'Swapping fluids, you are... not entirely wrong.'_

She raised the food to her lips.

_'Something was certainly swapped.'_

She opened her mouth.

_'Swapped... something on your face.'_

Her fork dropped to her plate with a clang, her wide eyes shot to the two across from her. Crowley seemed bored, but she could feel his eyes piercing her and Aziraphale was smiling at her with a benevolent, knowing smile that confirmed everything that flowed through her mind, but at the same time confirmed nothing- it was just a smile, she may well be taking it the wrong way, but for some reason she had a feeling that she correct.

“Well, well, well... what do we have here?”

Time seemed freeze in the Ritz, magic being the cause, the waiters and other patrons frozen in their places. Meredith turned and, at the same time she felt James tense, she saw Beelzebub _and_ Gabriel standing before them. Well this was just great. No it really was, if great was akin to walking on a rickety bridge over a boiling lake of lava- did lava boil? Or was it like fire and simply burned, or did it do some weird combination of both? She inwardly shook her head, now was not the time to be wondering about those sorts of things.

“Gabriel! Beelzebub!” Crowley held his arms out in greeting, he seemed oddly relaxed about the situation.

Aziraphale's face remained serene, but there seemed to be a tightening around his eyes. “Gabriel.”

“James! What a surprise!” Gabriel tilted his head to the side, a smile lighted his face, but it was not a please smile, it was cold and said everything that it needed to. “I had hoped that my _friend_ here had been incorrect when they came with information about what you've been doing down here.” he crossed his arms. “Apparently my hopes were not worth my time.”

“Zzzsspending time with angelsszz are we Meredith?” Beelzebub had a disappointed look on their face, but Meredith knew better. The Prince of Hell was furious.

“So this is what you've been doing for two years?” Gabriel gestured to Aziraphale and Crowley. “Consuming food with _them_?”

James pulled himself to stand an indignant rigidness to his stance, Meredith almost thought that he was going to stand up to Gabriel but then he spoke. “I have been doing my job sir, we- I've been investigating the Angel Aziraphale and the Demon Crowley to try to discover how they were able to withstand your justice.”

“Shall we add lying to your list of treachery?” Gabriel scowled.

Meredith blanched, she knew that Heaven had a hold on James, but this was ridiculous- he'd be lucky if he ever got sex again after that one, provided they survived past this. She rolled her eyes as James made a sound and stopped as she felt Beelzebub's eyes on her, she raised a brow at them.

“Do you want to pretend that I don't know?” Beelzebub asked coolly.

“No.” she replied evenly.

“This one's not half bad.” she heard Crowley say quietly and Aziraphale let out a sound of agreement before making another sound that sounded like he was eating his lunch again. She chuckled lightly, of course he was going to take this seriously.

Beelzebub sent the two a look before turning their attention back to Meredith. “What do you have to say in your defence?”

“Is this my trial? I'm hurt, Crowley got a room.” Her sassy response received a chuckle from Crowley.

“Have you dizzzssscovered anything of worth? Before we kill you?” Beelzebub snapped.

“There _lies_ an important question.” Aziraphale commented before sipping at his wine.

“I'm sure she has lots of material to search from.” Crowley added. “Someone knows how many times she watched us.” Crowley made a vague gesture with his hand. “Probably watched us in bed too.”

“ZZSSSsshut up!” Beelzebub snapped.

“I agree, do you two ever keep your mouths shut?” Gabriel added, sending the two a glare.

Meredith tilted her head, she _had_ seen quite a lot during her time on Earth, but would any of the information be good enough to use in a convincing lie? She wasn't sure if she could lie and get away with it? Then again, she was going to die anyway would there be a problem with telling a lie? She knew their secret, but she wasn't stupid, she understood what would happen if she shared the secret. War. Death. Fighting. Aziraphale and Crowley dying. Some time ago, she probably would not have cared, but now, having spent her time on Earth, loving Earth, she could not give the secret away.

“I do have the information you want.” she turned in her chair so that she faced the two standing before them. “I have a condition.”

“What?!” Beelzebub snapped. “I'll kill you quickly if you like.”

“I don't think that you're in the position to make demands of us.” Gabriel added.

“But we are.” Crowley raised his wine glass to Gabriel. “How about you hear her out.”

Gabriel's scowl darkened, were that possible.

“What do you want?” Beelzebub growled, shooting Crowley a dark look.

“Spare James.” her words surprised everyone at the table including herself. What a stupid boon to ask for. What about herself. She saw Beelzebub nod lightly and after receiving a blow to his elbows, so did Gabriel.

“Well its...” she glanced at Aziraphale who nodded at her, and Crowley who seemed more interested in his wine than what was happening, she then felt a hand gently touch her lower back. The hand was hesitant, which it damn well should be! James was in for it later! Still, she found herself leaning into the touch. She took a hesitant breath that she didn't need, was this going to work? “It's sex.” the lie fell easily from her lips.

Gabriel blanched. “I'm... sorry... what?”

Beelzebub seemed to be stunned and stood still.

Meredith nodded hastily. “Y-Yes... the act of, of sexual intercourse with an Angel... it fills you with the power to protect yourself from the holy power... it works in the other way as well...”

Crowley was proud of his own ability to not throw his head back in laughter at the absurdity of her statement. Seriously, sex? It was good, even Crowley would admit that, but magical sex that gives the power of impervious-ness? His lips twisted around the rim of his glass. He glanced at Aziraphale through the corner of his eyes, he too, seemed to be enjoying the scene before him.

“You cannot be zzsserious?” Beelzebub seemed to be swaying on the spot, a expression of disbelief and slight anger on their face.

“It is a lie.” Gabriel snapped. “There is no way that such an act would do that, humans do it all the time and nothing.”

“It's to do with the swapping of fluids.” James said quietly, apparently trying to redeem himself. “and of course the... love.”

Aziraphale made a sound from as he took a bite of his crab.

Beelzebub seemed at loss of words, Gabriel as well.

Crowley chuckled. “Well guys, you going to give it a try?” he leaned back into his chair, his eyebrows raised high above his glasses.

“G-give it a try!?” Beelzebub sounded scandalised.

“Just what are you implying Demon!?” Gabriel clenched his fists angrily.

“He's just telling you the facts.” Aziraphale snapped. “Perhaps you should, it might help you to... what's that phrase? 'loosen you up'?”

Crowley snorted on his wine.

“We shall dizscuzzss further.” Beelzebub said suddenly. They turned to Gabriel, an odd expression on their face.

The other four froze.

Gabriel staggered back, clearly shaken. “W-we shall?”

“I'm pleazsed that you agree.” Beelzebub reached forward and grasped him by the lapels and with a 'poof' they had vanished.

Aziraphale made a sound. “Well that was certainly something.” Aziraphale commented thoughtfully.

Crowley let out a laugh. “ 'something'? That was bloody brilliant!” he threw his head back with a cackle. “Oh to be a fly on the wall for that event!” he then shuddered as he pictured the pair engaging in their 'intercourse'.

“Oh no...” Meredith slunk into her seat. “Oh dear I hope that they don't find out soon I'd like a little more time alive.”

James sunk on his chair beside her. “We're so dead.”

“Oh don't be that way Dears.” Aziraphale said with a smile. “Just be prepared, if you are prepared then you'll be ready.”

“How will we-” James began but was cut off by Meredith.

“We will be.” she reached for her fork. “Thank you, for helping us.” She smiled at the Angel and Demon across from her.

“Just how did they-”

“You are most welcome.” Aziraphale smiled and raised his glass. “I propose a toast, to the future, whatever it brings.”

 

_Quite a few things were brought by the future._

 

_Meredith's lie had had a... profound effect on the future.. Gabriel and Beelzebub had come to an agreement of their own, one that seemed to bleed to the other Angels and Demons and by the time they caught on to the lie, well there were few that could be bothered caring. Apparently all most of the Angels and Demons needed was, for lack of a better term, a good fuck._

 

X

 

“Hey Dagon!” A low level demon called out as he looked at some paperwork, a look of confusion etched on his face.

Dagon, who was discussing something with Hastur, looked up. “What?” she snapped.

“We...” he paused and looked back down at the paperwork to check that it indeed said what it said and he wasn't experiencing some sort of mental crisis.

“Well out with it!” Dagon, whose interest, or irritation, was piqued, walked over with Hastur following behind.

One of Hell's many leaky pipes dripped onto the paperwork as the Demon read over it again, sixteen times wasn't too excessive. “We... we have a faller coming in.”

Dagon raised an eyebrow and snatched the paper from the Demon. “That's not possible, we aint had a faller in centuries, didn't think they could, 'specially now since Beelzebub's having it off with one of them Angel's now.” her eyes scanned the page. “Eial?” her eyebrow's rose. “An Archangel falling too? Well there's something.”

“Give me that!” Hastur snatched the paper from her. Ignoring her indignant sound he read over the paper, his unbelieving eyes reading over the list of reasons for Eliza- _Eial's_ fall. “Confessing to hating God...” he murmured as his dark eyes reached the end of the list. He scrunched the piece of paper in his fist before hurling it at a wall causing a pipe to burst. His expression darkened as he was soaked in water.

“Duke Hastur?” Dagon raised a brow at him.

Hastur said nothing and pushed past Dagon and the Demon. He had an Angel- no a _Demon_ to meet. His trip through Hell was a long one, this was partly due to the fact that Hell went out of it's way to irritate it's occupants, but also due to the fact that Hastur was headed to a part of Hell that had not been used in a millennia, due to the fact that no Angels had fallen in that long. When he finally reached where he needed to be the sight he was met with, should have been satisfying but it wasn't. Lying on the dark rocky floor beside a pool of fire laid what was once an Angel.

Elizabeth cried out in pain as her wings turned black. It _burned,_ it was as though her body had been covered with a blue flame and the hottest point being her wings. She shook and twisted as she tried to move from the flame but it was to no avail, not matter where she moved the flames followed, there seemed to be no relief from the pain. Then a cool hand touched hers, she knew who it was. She knew that hand, and while it did nothing to ease her pain, the touch helped her. The cool hand stayed with her for what seemed to be years, it could have been, but it could also have been days, perhaps even hours, it didn't matter, what did was that the cool hand stayed through the ordeal and only moved when her burning and trembling stopped.

Elizabeth opened her now brown, almost grey eyes. The first thing that she noticed was that she was small. Smaller that she had ever been before, the second thing that she noticed was that she no longer had hands, instead she had what appeared to be little geko feet. The third thing that she noticed was that she was being held, her tongue flicked out and she tasted the air- she knew that smell. She turned her body to see the source of the hand. Hastur.

“You fell.” he said blankly, his dark eyes burning hers.

She soaked in the sight of his form, she remembered her own body, her blonde hair and pale skin. She called to her magic and poured all of her focus into the image of her previous form. Her body changed it's shape and the next thing she knew, she was tumbling into Hastur.

“S-sorry!” she gasped as they tumbled into the ground. She pulled herself from his body and stumbled on her legs before falling to the ground. “M-My legs.” she murmured.

“It takes time.” Hastur said as he sat on the ground beside her.

Elizabeth let out a sound and at first Hastur thought that she was crying, which was not something a Demon should be doing, but he then realised that she was laughing. He tilted his head at her and watched as she threw her head back and let out the rich sound. Her shoulders shook and he caught a few stray tears fall from her eyes, which he chose to ignore.

“Six thousand years.” she said suddenly, cutting off her laughter. “Six thousand years of trying and I finally get what I've wanted. It doesn't feel how I thought it would.”

He made a sound. “How did you think that it would feel?”

She was quiet for a few moments, the tiny Geko behind her ear twitched slightly but did nothing else, until her and it, both looked at him. “I, honestly don't know what I expected, but I am...” she reached a hesitant hand out and touched his shoulder. “I am glad that you're here with me.”

_So was he._

“Do you think we should go... stir up some fun down on Earth?” she smiled lightly. “If I remember right, America has some big things happening- we could take advantage?”

He smiled. “Why not?”

 

X

 

“I am going to never let you live it down.” Meredith grinned as she threw some bread to the ducks. “You ass, sucking up to Gabriel, what the hell was that all about?” it had been weeks, but she still bought it up to tease him whenever she had the chance.

“I panicked, okay!?” James let out a sound of exasperation, he raised his hands in defeat before throwing the ducks some of the bread. He then closed his eyes and tilted his head back to enjoy the feel of the sun on his face. “What do we do now?” he asked quietly before smiling at the warmth on his face. 

“Well we need to be prepared, but I think that we have time,” she grinned and he could hear the smile on her face. “From what I've heard, Beelzebub's been keeping Gabriel busy.”

James chuckled. “I still cannot believe that it worked.” he opened his dark eyes and turned to her. “How could such a ridiculous lie work?” her crossed his arms over his chest and sent her a look. 

“I want to travel.” Meredith said suddenly. “See Earth, you know, the sights, the food, while I still have the time.” she threw the remaining bread to the ducks and pulled herself up to stand. He followed her suit and the two started to walk through the park.

“I would like to see the Japanese blossoms.” James commented as he linked his hands behind his back.

“I wouldn't mind trying some mochi, I've heard it's quite delicious.” Meredith closed her eyes briefly as she imagined eating the food, of course she had no basis for the taste so her pleasure came from just the thought of eating. 

“Would we go together? Or are we....?” he asked hesitantly, looking away.

“James.” Meredith said, suddenly sounding serious. “You piss me off, constantly, but unless you don't want me, and even then, you're going to have a hard time getting rid of me.” she elbowed him causing him to let out an 'omph'. “You get it?”

“I'm glad...” he breathed before turning red. “I mean, erm, well that's good.” through their walking, they had found themselves reaching the moke. He smiled at the red car, it had been a good vehicle to him for the last two years, he liked it almost as much as the Demon beside him, not that he was going to tell her that.

“You like me~” Meredith sang as she stood before him. Her hands slid to his chest and she grasped at his shirt. She grinned and looked up at him through dark lashes. “You want to kiss me~”

“I feel that you are referencing something but I shall ignore it in favour of this.” he leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers. Her grin widened against him and she leaned closer to him. They stood there like that for some time before a passerby wolf whistled them, causing them to separate with a laugh. Meredith's laugh full of amusement and James' with embarrassment. 

“Shall we go home?” Meredith prompted, climbing into the moke. “I'll make us eggs, and we can talk about our travels.” 

James climbed into the drivers side and turned the car on, the song 'take on me' flowed from the radio as he pulled out onto the road. “You know,” James began, glancing back at Meredith. “You never told me how Aziraphale and Crowley managed to do it, I  _know_ that you know.”

“Take me on~” Meredith sang with a grin.

“Meredith?”

“I'll be gone~”

“Meredith!”

“In a day or two~”

“Meredith!!!”

 

X

 

Crowley smiled as he heard his Angel inside their cottage. Said Angel was humming while he sorted through the books in their library, in their cottage. His smile widened and he planted some Hyacinths,  _their cottage._ Just the thought was enough to brighten his day. They had finally done it, they were finally together- not that they hadn't been together before, but something about living with Aziraphale made the whole thing feel more permanent, gave him the feeling that it wasn't going to end. 

He pulled himself up to stand and looked over his garden, he was so pleased with how it was coming along. He needed to get some chairs and maybe some ornaments, but so far it was coming along. It also pleased him that his plants that he had bought from his old apartment had, apparently, informed the other plants about him and his expectations, because they all were growing wonderfully. Not that he was going to tell them that.

He heard his Angel stop humming so he took that as a cue to check on him. Knowing Aziraphale he was probably reading a book, which would perfectly explain his sudden silence. He entered the cottage and was met with the sight of boxes, it had been weeks since they had moved in, but since Aziraphale insisted on doing things the human way, things were taking longer than it should have. He headed for their kitchen, which was the only room- other than the bedroom- that was complete. He boiled the kettle and made some tea for their matching angel and demon mugs. Grinning, he then headed through the masses of boxes to their library, which was, like most of the house still covered in boxes. 

He was met with the sight of Aziraphale sitting on the sofa from the bookshop, by the window, in his hands was an old book. He instantly recognised it as one of the prophecy books from the blitz. One of the books that he had saved. He smiled and headed towards the Angel. Aziraphale, once he realised that Crowley was there, closed the book in his lap and smiled and accepted the tea from the Demon. 

Crowley went to say something but cut himself off as he noticed something on a coffee table. A candle. The very thing that he had thought that they had agreed on, and that agreement being that they would not have those damned things in the house! He glared at the inanimate object and turned his fierce eyes to the Angel. “What is that doing here Angel?”

Aziraphale tilted his head in confusion before looking at the candle. Something flashed in his eyes before he let out a chuckle.

“I hardly see what's funny Angel.” Crowley snapped.

“It's not real Dear.” Aziraphale lifted the candle and turned it to it's bottom to reveal an on/off switch.

Crowley's lips tightened before he let out a breathy chuckle. “I'm sorry Angel.” he said fondly as he scooted closer to the Angel.

“I understand Dear.” Aziraphale leaned forward and buried his face in the Demon's shoulder. “I love you Dear.”

“I love you Angel.” Crowley pulled back and put his mug on the coffee table. “Shall I give you a taste of how much I love you?” he raised his brows suggestively and reached for Aziraphale's trousers. 

“Oh Crowley!” Aziraphale laughed.

 

X

 

A young blonde girl stood on the rooftop of a building looking down at London. Her blue eyes scanning over the different people scurrying around to their businesses. She smiled as she heard footsteps behind her, then suddenly she began to age, her hair became darker, almost a mousy brown but still remained blonde. She grew taller and her face and body became more mature, until she stopped ageing at around the age of a woman in her thirties. 

“I was wondering if you'd show up.” she said with a twitch of her lips.

“How did you know that I was..? Oh never mind, you always know.” 

The now woman turned to see a boy with brown curls standing behind her. Suddenly the youth made a similar transformation to the woman, he grew taller and taller until he was taller than the woman. His lanky form both imposing but beautiful. He eyed her with his striking bluish green eyes. He reached with his long fingers and adjusted the sleeves of his red tailored suit. 

“I suppose that is true, most of the time.”

“Most of the time?” the once boy, now man quipped. “You know everything, just admit it.”

“I didn't know that you were going to betray me.” she replied smoothly.

He waved his hand dismissively. “Sure, I'll believe you.” he crossed his arms and stepped beside her, his eyes scanning over the people in the street below him. “It was never your goal for us to fight, was it?” he turned his sharp eyes to her. “The Angels and Demons I mean.”

She turned back to the street and watched the people walk for a while. “Perhaps. Perhaps not.” she said simply.

The man beside her made a sound. “Whatever, did you have to corrupt Beelzebub?”

She chuckled. “You got Eial.” 

“I'd rather not lose anyone, even if you give me an Archangel in return.” he crossed his arms and gestured lightly at the people. “You like watching them go about their meaningless lives, don't you?”

“I enjoy the odd little twists and turns they take themselves, it's been one of the few things to surprise me in a long time.” 

“We will fight. Our two sides, eventually.” he replied. “These humans most likely will not survive.”

“I think they will.” she responded. “They have protectors now, creatures who like Earth, their numbers increase daily as well.”

“Don't remind me. I'm losing Demon's by the numbers, mind you, you're losing Angels too. We'll be on even footing when we finally meet in combat.”

“We shall see.” she smiled serenely. 

“There's a train,” he began, sending her a sidelong look. “the train's going to crash soon, it's filled with many souls.” he turned to her. “Perhaps we could go to the train and.... play for their souls? Get ourselves ready for our eventual battle?”

She lifted her hand, a deck of cards appeared between her finger and thumb. “Poker?”

His mouth upturned into a side grin. “If I win their souls are mine.

“If I win,” she replied. “the souls go wherever they were destined to go and... you hold off your attack for another thousand years.”

His mouth hardened. “I'll win this time.”

“I'm sure you will.”

He held an arm out. “Shall we? Their souls are singing for their damnation.”

“Good luck Lucifer.” she clicked her fingers and they were gone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A/N: Well that's it, it's all finished. I hope you guys like the ending!

 

Thank you all for reading!

 


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